An illustration showing passkeys, smart rings, and a watch.
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

Passkeys: how do they work? No, like, seriously. It’s clear that the industry is increasingly betting on passkeys as a replacement for passwords, a way to use the internet that is both more secure and more user-friendly. But for all that upside, it’s not always clear how we, the normal human users, are supposed to use passkeys. You’re telling me it’s just a thing… that lives on my phone? What if I lose my phone? What if you steal my phone?

On this episode of The Vergecast, we bring in an expert: Anna Pobletts, the head of passwordless (best title ever?) at 1Password. She has been working on all things post-password for a long time and has seen every use case you can think of. She’s convinced that passkeys are the future but also has some ideas on the right (and not-so-right) way to get started.

After that, we talk with The Verge’s Victoria Song about the state of wearables. Smartwatches are getting better than ever, but the smartwatch market feels smaller than ever. And remember when “wearable” meant so much more than watches? What happened to that future? Vee weighs in on Fossil’s exit from the market, the rise of the smart ring, and much more.

If you want to read more on everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to start with, beginning with passkeys:

And on wearables:

And on the cost of the Vision Pro:

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