Why can not OS smartwatches also be security keys?

The Google campus offers fewer hacks and greater security for a year and a half, thanks to the small keychains that replace the incoming passwords. Google sells its own security key Titan later this summer, in USB / NFC and Bluetooth versions. Alfred Ng, of CNET, has already used one. Last year, I tried something similar, briefly: the Token Ring a notebook with its own fingerprint scanner that can replace the connection to websites.

With Apple, Samsung and Google should launch new smartwatches later This year I say: It's time to let the wearables be our password assistants, too.

Android P, the next version of Google's mobile operating system, already brings better biometric security features. Browsers including Chrome, Firefox and Edge have added support for two-factor authentication this year, allowing keychains, phones, smartwatches or rings to replace passwords.

Apple Watch can already unlock Macs, but can not A universal connection connector on iOS or MacOS, such as Touch ID or Face ID, can be connected to Apple's iCloud keychain

Scott Stein / CNET

Watches can already be used with two factors: getting text or using mobile apps to get authorization codes. I use mine regularly for that. And Google has Authenticator codes that can help.

But what I want is something simple and basic: a way to scan, swipe and connect instantly. Like Google's Titan Key, but without keychains.

The Token Ring seemed to be a solid step in this direction … except that I do not really wear technical rings. But what about smartwatches?

YubiCo's Yubikey USB sticks already work as Google's Titan security key, via USB and NFC, but YubiCo does not consider a pretty good Bluetooth option. Google does it, of course. Somewhere in between, though, the watches could mix Bluetooth, NFC or even other sensors, presenting themselves as the kind of useful wireless access tool that I wanted them to be all along.

Smartwatches currently have no fingerprint sensors to add extra security, but they do have access codes. The new wave of Google's Wear OS smartwatches and Qualcomm could help add extra security features, who knows. Or, maybe, what if Google's own smartwatch Pixel does it?

We still do not know what the probability of this thing is, but 2018 seems to be the perfect time to allow wearables to do more to help. If Google has this type of success with its physical keychains, what about the rest of us?