Passwordsare so yesterday.Passkeysare all the rage or will be, soon. Over time, changing your account logins to a passkey will be the norm. Passkeys take the cryptographical mumbo-jumbo out of your hands – all you have to do is unlock your device to sign in to all your accounts. As more online services support passkeys, you might find yourself at a loss when it comes to which of your accounts need updating. Fortunately, if you useGoogle Password Manager, you can stay on top of it with a single glance and, more importantly, make the switch with just a few taps. Here’s how.
What are passkeys and why should you care? The password-free future explained
Is it time to ditch passwords for good? Google, Microsoft and Apple all seem to think so. Here’s what you need to know.
Sorry, what are passkeys again?
We’ve got a full explainer on what passkeys are, but the crash course version is that most of the tech industry – Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, the typical big corporate players that are in the security-focusedFIDO Alliance– has been working to get all of us over the futile act of remembering passwords (much less setting up easy giveaways like “password123”) by having account services communicate a secret hash with the phone that you’re logging in.
The service generates an encryption key for the phone to store. Whenever the device logs in, the service issues a test with an anticipated solution. The device solves the test with the encryption key and sends the solution back, authenticating the user into the service.
… Your phone, a physical item that you possess, becomes the main roadblock against malicious actors bashing their way into your accounts and not a bunch of credentials flying between modems and servers.
The crucial element is that your phone, a physical item that you possess, becomes the main roadblock against malicious actors bashing their way into your accounts and not a bunch of credentials flying between modems and servers. A passkey stored on a single device can be used to authenticate access to a service on multiple devices so long as they are connected to each other via Bluetooth. Dedicated security devices called security keys can also be used to store passkeys in the place of phones –we’ve also got an explainerif you want to know more about those.
Best security keys: Secure your laptops, smartphones, and apps from hackers
The best security keys are compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux and provide a physical layer of protection against intrusions.
How Google Password Manager helps you switch to passkeys
In January 2024,Google announcedits Password Manager would begin integrating a workflow to let users know which account credentials they’ve saved with the service are eligible to be upgraded to passkeys. It will also link them directly to the account settings page for each relevant service to let them immediately switch. The feature technically debuted in December asa Feature Drop exclusive to its Pixel phonesfrom the Pixel 5a to all later devices, includingPixel FoldandPixel Tablet, but the company says it will be working to expand the interface to other surfaces in due time.
Which services will Google Password Manager track for passkey upgrades?
Google stated that Password Manager would work with accounts on these services from the beginning:
Money Forward
Yahoo! Japan
TikTok is also set to join this list as some point.
How to upgrade to passkeys with Google Password Manager
On your eligible device, take the following steps:
After you’re done switching to a passkey, the service will be listed with a check mark. From this page, you can also try out a demo of the process to learn about what you need to do.
Most services will support multiple passkeys per account, which is handy if you use a work phone alongside your personal phone. However, do read through your site’s passkey policies, just in case they limit passkey access to a single device.
How to log in to an account with a passkey
Once you’ve set up your passkey for a site or app, you might want to try logging out, and then logging back in. Google Password Manager may pop up a prompt noting that it has saved a passkey on your device for this service and nudge you to authenticate with your primary device unlock method.
If it doesn’t do that, the site will certainly have a button that says “Sign in with Passkey” or something to that effect on which you can press. If you own and have set up passkeys for multiple accounts on the site, you’ll be asked to select the account you wish to use before you authenticate. Once you do that, you’ll be logged in.
