Passwordless: a different kind of hell?

> How should that work?

By the users of the software I publish noticing the license that states that while I hope this software is useful to them, it is provided with `"NO WARRANTY, NOT EVEN FOR FITNESS OF PURPOSE" and planning accordingly.

If you're an entity that wants to ensure that software you use from a source that you have approximately zero power over (and has explicitly provided NO warranty for that software) is and continues to be fit for purpose, you're going to have to inspect that software at a point in time, determine if it is fit for your purposes, and carefully inspect every future version of that software that you're considering using.

There really are no shortcuts. Requiring one to drink a Confirmation Can to log in doesn't change the math here.

I just opened a ticket with notion on mobile and plan on switching because I can’t use it for simple notes. This is the amount of steps it takes to login and you have to do it all the time:

* unlock your phone * tap notion * you're logged out - avoid the big login with x sso buttons, scan for and click the little text that's black on black labeled "login here with email" * type my email out (no autofill) * tap submit * exit app, open mail * find the notion email, usually it's right there other times, you must refresh constantly, sometimes it takes whole minutes because it's email * highlight as much of the password as you are able but not all of it because you can't due to the dashes * adjust highlighted text while holding down long enough to pop up the copy context window or memorize a cute phrase with dashes and type it out without making a mistake, 3 taps a dash (x4) because mobile keyboard layering * hit copy, exit app, open notion * press and hold in the textbox for the paste window or type it out * finally hit paste and submit * remember what you were trying to do quickly

Now add slow or glitchy(5g+) internet and it doesn’t work.

Even if you wanted to tie yourself permanently to an sso provider, a lot of the time, they too require re auth. If you have 2fa on (as you should) that's as many steps. The push for sso is also incredibly annoying. I’ve nearly deplatformed very intentionally.

Notion does a lot of funky things like refuse to build and offline mode which exacerbates this.

One other thing I don’t like about “passwordless” is biometric as a security feature instead of it as a convenience. 1Password removed passcode unlock on mobile in favor of faceid. Which if you don’t use it results in entering your full long password every time you use it, even if you just used it. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that complained because they restored the feature shortly after removing it. I unlock my friends phones while they are driving with faceid all the time. Too easy, not secure enough for the app that has most of my secrets.

Use 2fa, local passcodes that require reauth occasionally, and assume you are running on a locked device, if logging in from a new place maybe 3fa like Coinbase.

Ayin (ע) is the letter, and was the original letter used in the spelling of Gaza — עזה is the oldest and original name of Gaza, for as long as it's had that name. The Hebrew alphabet hasn't changed letters in thousands of years, long predating other Semitic languages like Arabic which continue to use the Gh sound; ancient Hebrew is still easily understood in written form by modern Hebrew speakers — much more so than even Shakespeare is to modern English speakers. When people say "Hebrew lost..." what they mean is the pronunciation of letters changed, not that the alphabet changed (unlike e.g. English, which really has lost and gained letters even over very short periods). And in some cases the sounds were only lost in specific communities; Yemenite Jews have done a pretty good job retaining sounds, e.g. their pronunciation of ע, as well as ת. (Similarly, Ashkenazis' much-maligned pronunciation of ת is probably closer to the original than modern non-Yemenite Mizrahi/Sephardic pronunciation — although Yemenite is closer.)

The last time written Hebrew meaningfully changed was when the Paleo-Hebrew script was exchanged for Aramaic block script 2.5 thousand years ago, but even then, the replacement was 1:1 — ע was still Ayin, it was just written with a different character. And Paleo-Hebrew script has been around since the Bronze Age.

I use 1password but opt out of this feature. Just as described in the article masterpassword creates a single source of failure so I don't personally want to put more eggs in that basket.

If you go all-in on an ecosystem there's going to be pain if you decide to jump to another ecosystem. You can avoid some of that by using 1Password (I'm sure there are others as well). It integrates just fine with iOS.