Google announced on Tuesday it’s hoping to make entering passwords a thing of the past with more widespread adoption of its “passkey” feature, which launched earlier this year.
“We’ll continue encouraging the industry to make the pivot to passkeys — making passwords a rarity, and eventually obsolete,” the company wrote in the release.
To use passkeys, users employ a fingerprint, face scan, or PIN to unlock a device, a system that the company says is “40% faster than passwords.”
Google emphasized that passkeys are phishing-resistant and employ specific cryptography that ensures they are secure.
Still, the company recognizes that new technologies take time to become mainstream, and making passkeys a default setting won’t happen overnight. Traditional passwords “may be around for a little while,” the release added, so users will still have the option to use a password for signing in if they wish. Users can also opt out of passkeys by disabling the “Skip password when possible” feature in their settings.
Other tech giants such as Uber and eBay have already implemented passkey options for users on their platforms. Apple also began offering passkeys with the launch of iOS 16, which allows users to ditch traditional passwords instead of passkeys across apps and linked accounts on iCloud.
