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Comment by filmgirlcw | Hacker News Reader

I think this is really great as a response to 404's post last week. I love 404 but I'm as annoyed by Magic Links as OP for the same reasons they mention.

Ricky Mondello wrote a really great blog last week[1] about how passkeys, as OP alludes to at the end, can be used alongside Magic Links, that I think is worth a read.

[1]: https://rmondello.com/2025/01/02/magic-links-and-passkeys/

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I haven't had these specific issues with magic links specifically, but I do remember when Epic launched the Epic Games Store and they would e-mail you two-factor codes to log in. I consistently had issues where I wanted to log into their store, got prompted to enter the two-factor code they e-mailed me, got no email for several minutes, requested another code, didn't get that either, gave up and did something else, and then got both codes 30 minutes later.

The fact is that even in the best of times, e-mail isn't reliable. Things go to your junk folder. Links get blocked by work spam filters. Mailboxes get full (I assume? it's been a while).

Personally, I have my e-mail on my iPhone and anywhere else (work laptop or gaming PC) I have to log into icloud.com to check my e-mail; it's cumbersome. Let me put in a password. Let me scan a QR code like embedded devices do. Give me at least one other option.

Thank you, this is a better piece than TFA! Reading TFA I was rather confused at how passkeys are an alternative to magic links—it makes a lot more sense to view them as a complement. Magic links allow you access to passkeys, which are basically "Remember this Computer" on steroids.

Thanks for that link, I had not seen it and if I had known Ricky Mondello had written that, I probably wouldn't have bothered.

I'm still used to Apple people being almost completely invisible publicly.

thanks for writing what you wrote -- I think it's important that we have this conversation as broadly as we can

I'm confused, what's going on here? Is there a reason you wouldn't have bothered reading a post from that specific person?

I meant Ricky’s post is great and if I had known about it first I might not have written mine! Added a link to it at the bottom of mine.

Ahh! Thanks for clarifying!

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