[makeitdouble]

I reread your analogy a few times, and while I think it's probably accurate, there is absolutely nothing simple in it. It reminds me of the "It's like Uber, but for mortgage insurances" kind of startup pitch. It perfectly encapsulates the concept, but the concept itself is just crazy niche.

To note: the key to start a car is provided with the car with no specific operation, is locked to no other device, doesn't care about who's handling it, can be duplicated and passed around. It would be closer to the traditional password system in all of its aspects IMHO.

[triblemaster]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40168230

See this and let me know if it makes more sense.

[makeitdouble]

I understand passkeys as authentication through a private/public key generated by the client when creating the credential, with the private key staying client side and the public key kept server side, with some more details around it to make the whole thing discoverable/automatable.

To me the best explanation was just to go to the passkeys.io site, the subject is complicated enough that analogies tend to introduce a lot of cognitive noise IMHO.

[triblemaster]

Good idea. I didn't know of that site.