Why Biometric eSignatures Are About to Make "Draw Your Signature" Feel Ancient

Most people still sign documents online the same way they did in 2012 — drawing a squiggle with a mouse, typing their name in a cursive font, or uploading a saved image. It works, technically. But it's slow, inconsistent, and about as secure as a sticky note. GoodSign has changed this entirely with WebAuthn passkey signatures — the first eSignature platform to let signers authenticate with Face ID, fingerprint, or device biometrics and have their signature applied instantly, every time.

Here's why that matters more than it might initially sound.

What's Actually Happening Under the Hood

WebAuthn is a web authentication standard built into modern browsers and devices. When you sign with a passkey, your device — a phone, laptop, or tablet — generates a cryptographic key pair. The private key never leaves your device. The public key gets registered with the signing platform. When you authenticate with your fingerprint or Face ID, your device uses that private key to create a unique cryptographic signature that proves you authorized the document.

No password. No drawing. No typing. Just a biometric prompt that takes under a second.

The first time you sign, you draw your signature once and link it to your biometric credential. Every document after that — whether it's tomorrow or six months from now — gets signed with a single touch or glance. Your signature is stored, verified, and applied without you lifting a stylus.

The Security Gap Typed Signatures Leave Open

When someone types "John Smith" into a signature field, what proof exists that it was actually John Smith? Almost none. The legal enforceability of a typed or drawn signature relies heavily on audit trails — IP addresses, timestamps, email verification. These are useful, but they're circumstantial.

Biometric document signing closes that gap directly. With WebAuthn passkey authentication, the signature is cryptographically tied to a specific device and a specific biometric. Spoofing it requires physical access to the signer's enrolled device and their fingerprint or face. That's a fundamentally different threat model.

Some specific advantages over typed or drawn signatures:

• Device binding: the credential only works on the device where it was created
• Phishing resistance: there's no password to steal or intercept
• Non-repudiation: the cryptographic proof is much harder to contest than a typed name
• No shared secrets: the platform never stores your biometric data — that stays on your device

This isn't just a convenience upgrade. For businesses handling contracts, NDAs, or client agreements, passkey eSignatures provide a stronger evidentiary foundation if a signature is ever challenged.

Why Repeat Signers Will Actually Notice the Difference

Friction compounds. If you're a freelancer sending contracts every week, or an agency onboarding clients regularly, the small annoyances of drawing your signature or re-typing your name add up fast. More importantly, friction on the signer's side is where deals slow down.

65.3% of documents sent through GoodSign are signed within 24 hours. That number is partly about simplicity on both sides. When a client receives a contract and can sign it with Face ID in three seconds — on their phone, without creating an account or remembering a password — the psychological barrier to completing the action drops to nearly zero.

The passkey model is especially valuable for repeat signers. A contractor who signs monthly invoices, a vendor who approves purchase orders regularly, a client who returns for new project agreements — they register once and every future signing is instant. The first-time setup takes maybe 30 seconds. Everything after that is a biometric prompt.

This is what "reducing friction" actually looks like in practice, not just making buttons bigger or removing form fields.

How This Compares to What Everyone Else Offers

Most eSignature platforms — including expensive subscription tools — still rely on drawn signatures, typed names, or at best, SMS verification codes as an authentication layer. A few offer identity verification add-ons, but these are typically paid features that add steps rather than removing them.

WebAuthn passkey integration as a native signing method is genuinely new to this space. The standard itself is mature — it's what powers passwordless login at Apple, Google, and Microsoft — but applying it to document signature workflows required rethinking the signing experience from the ground up.

The cost argument is straightforward too. At $1.50 per envelope with no subscription and no user limits, there's no monthly commitment forcing you to justify