diff --git a/api_key.go b/api_key.go
index 41c8385729..c1bbce2dbe 100644
--- a/api_key.go
+++ b/api_key.go
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ import (
 const (
 	apiPrefixLength = 7
 	apiKeyLength    = 32
-	apiKeyParts     = 2
 
 	errAPIKeyFailedToParse = Error("Failed to parse ApiKey")
 )
@@ -115,9 +114,9 @@ func (h *Headscale) ExpireAPIKey(key *APIKey) error {
 }
 
 func (h *Headscale) ValidateAPIKey(keyStr string) (bool, error) {
-	prefix, hash, err := splitAPIKey(keyStr)
-	if err != nil {
-		return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to validate api key: %w", err)
+	prefix, hash, found := strings.Cut(keyStr, ".")
+	if !found {
+		return false, errAPIKeyFailedToParse
 	}
 
 	key, err := h.GetAPIKey(prefix)
@@ -136,15 +135,6 @@ func (h *Headscale) ValidateAPIKey(keyStr string) (bool, error) {
 	return true, nil
 }
 
-func splitAPIKey(key string) (string, string, error) {
-	parts := strings.Split(key, ".")
-	if len(parts) != apiKeyParts {
-		return "", "", errAPIKeyFailedToParse
-	}
-
-	return parts[0], parts[1], nil
-}
-
 func (key *APIKey) toProto() *v1.ApiKey {
 	protoKey := v1.ApiKey{
 		Id:     key.ID,