Use Google Accounts now without a password

Arnar Birgisson and Diana K Smettersfrom the Identity Ecosystems and Google Account Security and Safety teams, explain:

Passkeys are a more convenient and safer alternative to passwords. They work on all major platforms and browsers, and allow users to sign in by unlocking their computer or mobile device with their fingerprint, face recognition or a local PIN.

Passkeys as a bet on the future: Signing into Google accounts is becoming easier

On the Google Security Blog, the company states that Passkeys represent a secure variant for logins. Since the login elements – for example biometric data – are only stored on the device and not on Google, screens are only unlocked locally. This should provide more security and better protection against phishing than entering a password. It also says so in the post:

This is stronger protection than most 2SV (2FA/MFA) methods offer today, which is why we allow you to skip not only the password but also 2SV when you use a passkey. In fact, passkeys are strong enough that they can stand in for security keys for users enrolled in our Advanced Protection Program.

Despite the focus on passkeys, passwords will still work as a login method for Google accounts. Because the technology does not yet work on some devices. In addition, the passkeys for workspace accounts, for example, cannot be created individually by everyone. In a workspace, the administrators must first enable the passkey login function.

If you want to use passkeys, you can create different passkeys for different devices – so that the smartphone does not always have to be used. The passkeys should not be used if a device is used by several parties; in the private context, however, there should be exceptions. If a user loses a device with a passkey, this login option can be added to the Account Settings reset immediately. Google recommends anyway a phone number or email address for account recovery add to accounts. If you want to use passkeys for your Google account from now on, you can go to g.co/passkeys start with it directly. You can read more about the technical background of the function on the security blog.

Passkeys are based on the protocols and standards of the Working group FIDO Alliance and the W3C WebAuthn Working Group, which Google helped design. Therefore, Passkey support is present on all platforms and browsers that adopt these standards.

Other platforms also rely on passkeys – but passwords are still commonplace

Passkeys are not a new concept. Apple and Microsoft have long relied on this feature, as The Verge editor Tom Warren reports.