How to provide fallbacks for users with passkey issues?

How Can We Provide Fallback Options for Users Who Encounter Issues with Passkeys?#

Fallback options are essential to ensure users can access their accounts even if they face challenges with passkey authentication. Here’s how to provide effective fallback solutions:

1. Implement Alternative Authentication Methods#

• Password-Based Login: Retain traditional password login as a fallback for users without access to their passkeys.
• One-Time Passwords (OTPs): Enable OTPs via email or SMS as a secure, temporary alternative for authentication.

2. Support Cross-Device Authentication#

• Device Recovery Options: Allow users to recover access through other registered devices if their primary device is unavailable.
• Cloud-Synced Passkeys: Encourage users to enable cloud syncing for passkeys, ensuring they remain accessible across devices.

3. Educate Users on Backup Methods#

Educate users on adding multiple passkeys (e.g., on their smartphone and laptop) to avoid being locked out.

4. Dynamic Authentication Flows#

• Fallback Detection: Automatically detect when a passkey is unavailable and suggest alternative authentication methods.
• Custom Prompts: Provide clear and intuitive prompts guiding users to fallback options when passkey authentication fails.

5. Integrate Customer Support#

• Support Assistance: Ensure support teams can help users reset passkeys or guide them through fallback options.
• Role-Based Access Control: Restrict sensitive fallback actions to authorized personnel to maintain security.

By offering diverse and secure fallback options, you can ensure users always have a way to access their accounts while maintaining trust and usability.

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About Corbado

Corbado is the Passkey Intelligence Platform for CIAM teams running consumer authentication at scale. We help you see what IDP logs and generic analytics tools can't: which devices, OS versions, browsers and credential managers support passkeys, why enrollments don't turn into logins, where the WebAuthn flow fails and when an OS / browser update silently breaks login, all without replacing Okta, Auth0, Ping, Cognito or your in-house IDP. Two products: Corbado Observe layers observability for passkeys and any other login method. Corbado Connect adds managed passkeys with analytics built in (alongside your IDP). VicRoads runs passkeys for 5M+ users with Corbado (+80% passkey activation). Talk to a Passkey Expert →