Add touch id to keyboard?

[romanof]

This post could fit a lot of categories, but as it concerns keyboards mostly, this one will have to do.

Trying to come up to speed about Passkeys (and filtering the fluff and clickbait sites), but in no hurry as I can see almost no websites that use it yet - at least any that I have interest in.

I was about to enable it on my iPhone to play with and get some idea of how it actually works, but then stopped when I suddenly realized a gotcha - I think. My desktop is a loaded M1 Mini and XDR, lots of peripherals (three usb-c hubs) and is obviously where I spend my computer time. But, I am a fan of clicker keyboards and use an original IBM model M, or sometimes the modern version from Unicomp.

So... No biometrics on my desktop.

And thus far, my reading seems to indicate that no TouchID or FaceID means no entry with passkeys. That is ok. I would hate to see some kluge that bypassed those for convenience. But, to my question - is there a way to add touch id to an older mac? My searches aren't coming up with vast numbers of solutions.

 

[BotchQue]

Quinn from the Snazzy Labs channel on EweTube just did a video on exactly that. He had to tear apart two Magic keyboards, and designed/3D-printed a housing for the switch. Beyond my skill-set, but it can be done.

Here it is:

 

[romanof]

Wow! That is a pretty heavy duty solution to my problem. I have a stack of Magic Keyboards (I hate the things) but I think I will keep searching.

Of course, I could plug one in to do the validation, then move back to my clicker, but that is kind of clunky. Still, lots of time to search - very few sites use passkeys yet and none that I frequent. Maybe something will come along.