Phone login

Introducing password-less login on your desktop browser using your iPhone for authorisation. Face ID works particularly well on iPhone, but fingerprint is also straightforward.

(This may also work on Android, depending on how recent the phone and browser, but it hasn’t been tested).

Background

Cameo has had password-less login for some time. To use it, though, you needed something to identify you on the computer where you logged in. For example, a fingerprint reader (which many laptops do have these days) or a Yubico USB key.

Apple Safari in iOS and iPadOS version 15 and later now implement web authentication (aka webauthn). This means you can use the fingerprint reader or face ID on Safari on iPhone or iPad to log in to Cameo. Though it works, it isn’t all that useful on iPhone on its own: it isn’t an ideal platform to run Cameo on directly.

However, you can now log in on your main browser (which does not have to be Safari or even be on a Mac) without a password, using this same technology on the iPhone for authentication (or indeed any platform which supports webauthn technology).

How to log in

You need a one-time set-up on both the phone and the browser you want to log in to. See below for this.

Then, each time you want to log in (in either order):

• on the browser you want to log in to (your desktop, say), go to the Cameo log-in page. It should say waiting for your phone login
• on your phone, open phone login (which you will have saved to your home screen or bookmarked when setting up)

Then on your phone:

• depending on the version of iOS, you may be asked which of several possible authentication methods to use: if asked, choose the passkey option (it will remember this so you just have to tap a Continue button next time)
• authorise the login with Face ID (Video 1) or Touch ID (fingerprint; Video 2) depending on your phone

One-time set up on your phone

• Log in to Cameo on your phone using a password.
• In profile → profile and log out, under Key/biometric login, click the use built-in button (that is, the authentication mechanism built-in to your device: fingerprint or face ID on an iPhone): see Video 3
• On iOS 15 you go straight to face ID/fingerprint, but on iOS 16 there are several ways of authenticating: choose Passkeys
• Then respond to the phone’s authenticator with your fingerprint or face recognition. That has now set up the phone as a key (you can also use this to log in to Cameo directly on the phone in the future if you need to)
• Click your organisation logo at the top of the screen to open the information panel
• Click the link to Phone login (under “You“). That will take you to the page where you use the phone to authenticate. It will say waiting for your login: that’s fine.
• Save the page to your phone home screen, or favourites, or bookmark it if you prefer. (If you add it as a bookmark, you could also then add a iOS Shortcut called, say, Cameo Phone Login, which means you can then open it with Hey Siri … Cameo Phone Login).

One-time set up on your main browser

• Log in to Cameo on your main browser using a password
• In profile → profile and log out, under Phone login, click the allow phone login button (Video 3, last few seconds). This allows that particular browser to log in via your phone (without this, in principle, someone could start a login after you on their own browser, which you then unwittingly authorise on your phone)
• The first time you want to log in this way, click the log in via phone link on the log-in page, and enter your email. Then click the log in via phone button. Your browser will remember this is your preferred login method, and go right there the next time.