Biometric Authenticators Across Browsers in iOS

Knowledge Articles
1

Overview

  • On iOS, a user registers via Face ID as a first factor on Safari.
  • They can subsequently log in using Face ID as expected, but only with Safari.
  • When trying to log in via Chrome, the user is prompted for a password, and there is no way to authenticate with biometrics.
  • This also occurs vice versa: if the user registers Face ID in Chrome, they are prompted for a password in Safari when later authenticating.

This article explains why this behavior occurs and whether there is a way to share biometric authenticators across browsers on iOS.

Applies To

  • Biometrics
  • Face ID
  • iOS

Solution

This is expected behavior on iOS.

  • Browsers are sandboxed from one another, and WebAuthn is implemented at the browser level as opposed to the OS level.
  • This is unlike on MacOS, where WebAuthn is implemented at the OS level, and it is possible to use a biometric authenticator registered in one browser in another browser to authenticate.