Passwordless authentication 101
Passwordless authentication is the collective name given to methods of verifying a user’s identity that do not use passwords. By validating user identities based on “who they are” and “what they have”, passwordless authentication helps apps get to market faster, onboard and delight more users, and stop credential-based attacks.
Passwordless authentication with Descope
Pick a method, any method
Pick the passwordless method that’s best for your project. Strong support for passkeys / biometrics, social logins, OTP, authenticator apps, magic links, and enchanted links.
Progressive enrollment
Promote passwordless adoption for returning users for a phase-based rollout approach. Securely merge user identities across auth methods.
Passwordless MFA
Adopt passkeys (one-step MFA) or chain together your choice of passwordless methods for phishing-resistant MFA.
Future-proof
Our workflow-based approach means you can easily add and modify passwordless methods as your business grows.
“Descope has truly been ‘set it and forget it’ for authentication by making user journeys seamless and secure for all users that interact with our service.”
- Sasidhar Sista, Co-Founder
"This is the fastest implementation of RBAC in a product I've ever seen."
- Alok Shukla, Co-Founder and CEO
"Our developers had an amazing experience with the Descope SDK. It only took us 3 hours to deploy OAuth social logins to production."
- Manu Zenou, Head of Engineering
"Descope is very customizable and easy to use. We seamlessly embedded Descope Flows inside an Outlook plugin for our app, which was not possible with other authentication products."
- Alon Cohen, CEO
"Security and compliance is always top of mind in healthcare. It's reassuring that Descope takes care of all the little security details involved in authentication."
- Jonah Mink, Founder and CEO
"Every B2B SaaS app needs to think about SAML and access control from Day 1. Descope helps us offer these capabilities to our customers with minimal engineering effort."
- Harsh Shrivastava, Founding Engineer
"Authenticating our community members with LinkedIn is intuitive for them, gives us a better understanding of their identity, and removes the burden of managing passwords."
- Shreesha Ramdas, Co-Founder
Pick your chosen passwordless method
Passkeys
Let users log in the same way they unlock their device – with a fingerprint, face scan, or PIN.
Social login
Enable users to log in with identity providers like Google, LinkedIn, GitHub, and others.
One-time passwords
Implement quick and easy login with one-time passwords over email and SMS.
Authenticator apps
Harden security by having users prove the possession of their devices.
Biometrics / WebAuthn
Implement FIDO-based biometric authentication native to your users’ devices.
OpenID Connect
Augment existing logins with passwordless auth by adding Descope as a federated IdP.
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More passwordless resources
Passwordless benefits
Learn how going passwordless can reduce costs, improve UX and security, and aid compliance.
Magic link use cases
See the different ways you can leverage the power of magic links in your business.
Passkeys vs passwords
Discover how passkeys are an improvement over passwords in every respect.
5 popular biometric methods
Study the specifics of fingerprint authentication, face scans, and other forms of biometrics.
What is FIDO authentication?
Learn how the FIDO2 standard helps apps go passwordless on both desktop and mobile environments.
WebAuthn 101
Dive into the details of the web authentication API and see how it enables apps to go passwordless.
Our service is for every app developer
No code, some code, or a whole lotta code – Descope meets you where you are by offering different integration options.
Descope SDKs
“I’ll build the authentication screens and flows, but may need help with session management.”
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