What you need:Bitwarden Time required:20 minutes
Workshop
Passkeys, which are set to largely replace passwords over the coming years, are strings of code synchronised between your devices that are used to prove who you are. As we explained in Issue 670’s Cover Feature, they’re more secure than passwords and easier to use, because you don’t need to remember them.
Traditionally, they were stored on specific devices like a phone or security key, which you’d need to keep with you to log into a website. However, password managers – like Bitwarden – are now adding support for passkeys. Here we explain how to use Bitwarden to log into websites without using passwords.
1 STEP If you don’t already have a Bitwarden account, set one up by visiting www.bitwarden.com and clicking ‘Get started’ 1 . You’ll need to provide your email address (for signing in to your Bitwarden account), name and master password. The master password is used to lock all of your logins, so it’s very important you don’t forget it. You can enter a master password hint to jog your memory, but don’t make this so obvious that it would help someone else to access your account.
2 STEP Now download the Bitwarden extension for your browser. Although Bitwarden also has a downloadable program, passkey support is initially being rolled out to its browser extensions only. Visit www.snipca.com/48239, scroll down to Web Browser Extensions and click your browser in the list to be taken to its add-on page. Click the install button (or Get if you’re using Edge). If it doesn’t automatically offer to log you in when it’s finished installing, click your browser’s extensions button 1followed by Bitwarden 2 . Log in using the email address and password you specified in Step 1.
3 STEP The process for creating a passkey varies between services. Here, we’ll set one up to log into a Microsoft account. Start by opening a new browser window and visit www.office.com. Log in using your Microsoft account details. Click your profile icon at the top right of the window 1 , then click ‘My Microsoft account’ 2 . Click Security 3and reenter your password if requested. Click ‘Advanced security options’, followed by ‘Add a new way to sign in or verify’ 4 .
4 STEP Click ‘Use a security key’ 1 . Traditionally, this is what you would have selected if you had a physical security key, like a YubiKey (we explained how to set up one of these back in Issue 563, page 35). Here, Bitwarden lets you use a sy
