Methods of short-distance network electronic authentication are described. In one embodiment, a method includes storing encrypted authentication data for a user and a corresponding encryption key on a mobile device; establishing electronic communication between the mobile device and a computer via a short distance network; detecting a request for user-specific authentication data from a third-party application running on the computer; requesting, via an authentication client on the computer, authentication credentials from an authentication service running on the mobile device; accessing, via the authentication service, in response to the requesting step, the encrypted authentication data and encryption key; decrypting the authentication data using the encryption key via the authentication service; transmitting the decrypted authentication data to the authentication client on the client computer; passing the decrypted authentication data from the authentication client to the third-party application; and authenticating the user in the third-party application.