Google rolls out passkeys feature to sign into apps and websites: Details

Announcing the update via a blog post, Google said “Last year — alongside FIDO Alliance, Apple and Microsoft — we announced we would begin work to support passkeys on our platform as an easier and more secure alternative to passwords. And today, ahead of World Password Day, we’ve begun rolling out support for passkeys across Google Accounts on all major platforms.”

What are passkeys?

Passkeys offer a hassle-free sign in experience to users as they don’t have to remember long passwords for different websites. Passkeys let users sign in to apps and sites the same way they unlock their devices: with a fingerprint, a face scan or a screen lock PIN.

And, unlike passwords, passkeys are more resistant to online attacks like phishing. They are also more secure than things like SMS one-time codes that can be intercepted by hackers. With passkeys, user’s authentication will synchronize across all their devices running Google account through the cloud using cryptographic key pairs.

Passkeys will be available alongside the password and 2FA login methods.

The feature has started rolling out to Google users from today who will start seeing Passkeys option when signing up on a new app/website. It is available for private Google account holders for now as Google says that administrators will soon have the option to enable passkeys for their end-users during sign-in for Google Workspace accounts.

In a related news, Google has announced that it will soon remove the lock icon from the address bar and replace it with a variant of the tune icon which is commonly associated with settings or other controls. The new icon will be more clickable and will not imply ‘trustworthy’, Google says.