Proton Pass Now Supports Passkeys

Proton announced today that its Proton Pass password manager now supports passkeys on all devices and across all account types, including free accounts.

“Passkeys are an easy and secure alternative to traditional passwords that can help prevent phishing attacks and make your online experience smoother and safer,” Proton’s Son Nguyen writes in the announcement post. “We’re excited to announce that Proton Pass supports passkeys for everyone, allowing you to manage and use passkeys across all devices seamlessly.”

Proton’s support of passkeys is notable, given how confused and inconsistent the rollout of this technology has been elsewhere. This is the type of “it just works” functionality I’d looked for and expected when I first started researching passkeys for an update to the Windows 11 Field Guide, which, you may recall, led to an escalating series of articles about securing online accounts. And, more recently, to my switch to Dashlane, which offers seamless passkey support across devices for new account holders only.

As Proton explains, passkeys are a promising alternative to signing in with passwords and traditional two-factor authentication (2FA) systems like authenticator apps because they are—or, can be—seamless, secure, and phishing resistant. The issue with passkeys, however, is that they’re not portable: You typically have to create a new passkey for each account on each device you use. So companies like Dashlane and Proton are working on ways to make them portable via their password managers.

Proton’s implementation of this is open source and based on the FIDO standard. And like Proton’s other apps and services, Proton Pass is protected with end-to-end encryption.

Passkey support is available now in all Proton Pass plans, including the free plan for individuals and Proton Pass for Business.

You can learn more on the Proton Pass website. I am examining several Proton services now, and Proton Pass is definitely of interest.