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Snippet from Wikipedia: Passkey

Passkey or Passkeys may refer to:

• a skeleton key, also known historically as a passkey
• a key cut to be a master key for a set of locks, see master keying
• the 6-digit numeric code used when pairing a Bluetooth device
• a WebAuthn or FIDO credential, referred to as a passkey by some vendors

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Your device supports passkeys, a password replacement that validates your identity using touch validation, facial recognition, a device password, or a PIN.

Passkeys can be used for sign-in as a simple and secure alternative to password and two-factor credentials.

Passkeys are pairs of cryptographic keys (a public key and a private key) that are stored by an authenticator you control. The authenticator can prove that a user is present and is authorized to use the passkey.

Authenticators prove authorization with a PIN, passcode, biometric, or device password, depending on the authenticator's capabilities and configuration. Authenticators come in many forms, such as an iPhone, iPad or Android device, Windows Hello, a FIDO2 hardware security key, or a password manager.

When you sign in to GitHub.com using a passkey, your authenticator uses public key cryptography to prove your identity to GitHub without ever sending the passkey. Passkeys are bound to a website domain, like GitHub.com, and require a secure connection, meaning that the web browser will refuse to authenticate to a lookalike phishing website. These properties make passkeys highly phishing-resistant, and much harder to attack than SMS or TOTP 2FA, which can be phished.

Cloud-backed passkey services allow passkeys to be synced across devices (such as Apple devices, Android devices, or password managers) so they can be used from more places and are less easily lost. Once you have set up a synced passkey on one device, that passkey is available to use across multiple devices using the same passkey service. For example, if you register a passkey with your iCloud account using your MacBook's Touch ID, you can then use that passkey with your face, fingerprint, PIN, or device password interchangeably across multiple devices tied to the same iCloud account.

https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/authenticating-with-a-passkey/about-passkeys

• GitHub Passkeys

Passkeys are a new form of sign-in and phishing resistant credential that make it easier to protect your GitHub account by reducing use of passwords and other, more easily phishable authentication methods. (https://github.blog/2023-09-21-passkeys-are-generally-available)

You can add passkeys to your personal account on GitHub.com so that you can sign in safely and easily, without requiring a password and two-factor authentication. You can also use passkeys when performing a sensitive action (sudo mode), or to authenticate a password reset. (https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/authenticating-with-a-passkey)