Passkeys when switching phones: which ones move and which don't
A passkey can follow you to any new phone, or it can stay locked inside the one that created it. You don't notice the difference until you try to sign in from another device and find out which case was yours.
In short: if your passkey was saved in iCloud Keychain, Google Password Manager or a dedicated password manager, it syncs and shows up on a new phone from the same provider or manager. If it was saved as "this device only," it stays put.
What happens
When you create a passkey, the place where it's saved decides whether it travels with you or not. Apple syncs passkeys saved in iCloud Keychain across your own Apple devices. Google, since 2024, syncs passkeys saved in its Password Manager across Windows, macOS, Linux and Android (with iOS support announced). A dedicated password manager (Bitwarden, 1Password, Proton Pass…) does the same within its own account, on whatever system you run the app on. In all three cases, switching to a new phone of the same account type is nearly seamless.
The problem shows up in two situations: when the passkey was created as "this device only" (an option some services offer explicitly, meant for maximum security), and when you switch ecosystems (Apple to Google or back) without a dedicated manager that works on both sides. There, the passkey from the old phone doesn't show up on the new one.
Why it happens
Because the standard behind passkeys (FIDO2) defines how a passkey is used to sign in, not how it's copied between devices. That part is up to each provider: that's why some passkeys sync on their own and others don't, depending on where they were saved. It's the same reason moving an Apple passkey to Android is different from moving one from a manager like Bitwarden: the standard is shared, but the "vault" where each passkey lives isn't.
Who it hits hardest
People switching from Apple to Android or back who had their passkeys in each one's native vault. And people who turned on a "device-bound" passkey for an especially sensitive account (thinking it was the safest option) and then that device stops being available.
It also hits people who use several browsers or several accounts on the same phone: a passkey created while signed into one Google account might not show up if you later switch your main account on that same phone, even though the phone itself hasn't changed.
What to check before you switch
- Do you know which accounts have active passkeys?
- Are those passkeys in your system's native vault (Apple or Google) or in a dedicated manager?
- Are you switching ecosystems (iPhone↔Android) with any passkey saved only in the native vault?
- Does every account with a passkey have another way in besides that passkey?
If it already happened to you
If you already switched phones and an account won't let you in because the passkey stayed on the old device, almost every service lets you sign in with your username and password, or another second factor, and create a new passkey there for your current phone. There's no way to "bring over" that specific passkey: each one is unique to the account where it was created and the place where it was saved.
If you still have the old phone, you can use it as a bridge: many services let you approve access from the device that does have the passkey to authorize the new one, without needing to remember any old password.
Official sources: Apple: the security of passkeys · Google: syncing passkeys in Google Password Manager