Face ID si touch ID are at the center of a new initiative to make the internet better and easier to use, a new API called WebAuthn being proposed to simplify logging into websites. The proposal is based on the fact that Face ID and Touch ID should be used by users to log in to websites, much like what is happening now in the Safari browser.
WebAuthn has support in Firefox starting today, and Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge will implement support in the coming months, and this will simplify the lives of many people. Safari already allows the use of Touch ID and Face ID to complete login data in websites, although it does not support WebAuthn, Apple using its own implementation in iDevice/Macs.
WebAuthn is currently just a simple recommendation, but the implementation of support in Google Chrome would practically bring the technology to over a third of the Internet. Considering that Firefox already has support for WebAuthn, it is quite clear that Google Chrome will also offer it at some point, even if Google would not rush to do so.
"This document was published by the Web Authentication Working Group as a Candidate Recommendation. This document is intended to become a W3C Recommendation […] For the Web Authentication specification to move to Proposed Recommendation we must show two independent, interoperable implementations of the Web Authentication API in browsers."
In a world where people have to use increasingly complex passwords to be safe, a standard like WebAuthn would be extremely useful for many people. It is true that on iPhone or iPad, few use Firefox, Google Chrome, etc., but on computers the implementation will be extremely useful for many people, with Mac and not only.
