DISCLOSURE: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps us keep the site free and independent. Our opinions remain unbiased.

Buttondown’s latest update puts the focus on security and author login experience. The standout feature for March is the introduction of passkeys, a shift that lets you ditch traditional passwords in favor of authentication tied directly to your device’s biometrics or PIN.

Setting up passkeys

You can now configure passkeys from the login page in seconds. The platform lets you use passkeys as your primary login method instead of a password, or layer it on top as two-factor authentication. The update also includes recovery codes, which is essential stuff. Once you enable a passkey, you’re strongly encouraged to generate these emergency codes to avoid getting locked out of your account. For managing these new credentials across devices, a multiplatform password manager like Proton Pass makes sense.

Reader management gets better

Beyond account security, Buttondown streamlined several aspects of reader management. Newsletter reply tracking is now on by default for everyone. Authors no longer need to dig through settings to monitor incoming messages, unless they’re already using a custom email address, which takes technical priority over this automation.

Subscribers benefit too. Tag descriptions are now public, so anyone receiving your newsletter can see the exact details of the categories they’ve subscribed to right in their portal. The team also fixed an annoying bug in the analytics system that was counting drafts as views, so your reading metrics are now actually reliable.