Yubico 5C Key does not get read when key prompt is up

I just upgraded to ios 18.3 and my Yubikey 5C NFC keys worked ok during the initial setup for 2FA, although it took several tries. I had removed the Yubikey Authenticator app from the phone because that app wanted to open every time I brought the keys near the phone. I thought maybe that was kind of highjacking the 2FA setup routine.

Otherwise the phone recognizes the keys immediately when I tap them on the top back of the phone.

Without the Authenticator app installed the prompt that comes up offers to open my.yubico.com in Safari.

After about 2 weeks working with an apple support representative, they confirmed that they have started receiving multiple complaints about this issue and to look for a fix in a future update. No timeline though. They had me screen record the issue and send them logs. Yubico has also notified apple on the issue.

It is now fixed in iOS 18.2

This is a bug in 18.1. They have completely broken the use of security keys. I had to use an old iphone to set up my new iphone. It was the only way because when it asks for a pin to unlock the security, it doesn't recognize it and let the key authenticate the account. There is nothing wrong with my keys. I have 3 of them, and they work in google chrome or arc browser on my mac. They will not authenticate in safari, or in iOS for logging into your apple account, or setting up a new device.

For completeness, I have a 13 Mini, ios 18.3, 2 x Yubikeys with nfc and usb-c.

Multiple accounts/authorisations on the Yubikeys. Working ok > 1 year.

Since upgrading to 18.3 the Yubikey is not recognised via nfc. Still recognised on iMac / MacBook Pro via usb-c.

I have erased and restored the iphone from backups twice with no change.

I have 2 keys. They were both working fine before the iPhone upgrade.

The iPhone stopped recognising both of them via nfc when I did the upgrade to 18.3.

They both still work via usb-c.

The iPhone nfc still works with card payment terminals.

Conclusion: Something in 18.3 has broken the nfc part of ios that Yubi uses.

For even more completeness: as documented throughout this thread, the same symptoms have been observed across various versions of 18.1, 18.2 and 18.3, so it's something broken in the nfc part of ios that yubi uses but its not specifically related to 18.3 only

Finally it works for me on Iphone 12 mini 18.5. I resolved that issue by enabling the NFC function on my Yubikey...

Be sure NFC is enabled on your Yubikey, you can check that with the software Yubikey Manager > Interfaces check that NFC options are activated.

I have experienced the same issue with the NFC functionality in general. It was working fine in iOS 16 but broke when I upgraded to iOS 17. I was very pleasantly surprised when it (ApplePay, and general NFC-related stuff) started to work again in iOS 18. However, the upgrade to 18.1 broke it again.

Similar here. 12 mini on 18.5 here w Yubikey nfc +c and the nfc works for authenticating the apple account within iOS but not for any google apps, broken for some others.

Just got a set of Yubikey 5C NFCs only to find they won't work with my iPhone 13 on iOS 18.3.1. They work fine with the Yubico Authenticator app but won't read as a hardware passkey in several apps, leaving me unable to sign in on those apps on my iPhone after having secured them with my Yubikeys via my desktop browser on Linux.

Apple, when will you fix this?

I have the same issue. I have a pincode that gets unlocked using faceid. I’ve gotten a workaround for now. it is an annoying thing to see a security standard like this be so badly implemented.

-Tab NFC and open Authenticator app

-Press cancel when prompted for NFC

-Keep app open and tap NFC then click banner to open the app again.

-When prompted to tap do it one more time and it finally opens. And will also use faceid to unlock the pincode.

another thing than is really not working is passkey logins. Can’t get it to work it’s back to the bug where it keeps looping and asking for pin. Doesn’t work when plugged in either.

im on iOS 18.5

Actually, I replaced my nfc with one with usb-c and FireWire and it works well. With this I’m way more protected than without the yubikey at all.

tropics2005 wrote:

Conclusion: Something in 18.3 has broken the nfc part of ios that Yubi uses.

No. Apple made a change and Yubi did do what was necessary to comply with that change. Apple cannot make changes to another company's programming.