It was Tuesday that Google announced a small update that could mean the end of passwords, which would be the biggest change in the history of safety. From now on, Google will use passkeys instead of passwords as its preferred way to sign in. The company says that its goal is to “make passwords rare and eventually useless.”
You know what a passkey is, even if you don’t know what the word means. An account passkey lets you sign in in the same way that unlocks your device, like a PIN or biometrics like your fingerprint or face. The best thing about these methods is that hackers can’t use phishing to get in because they need your real device, not just your password.
Another thing that people like about passkeys is that you don’t have to remember long lines of letters and numbers. Google also says that they’re 40% faster.
This one’s been heard before. There have been calls for the end of passwords for at least ten years, but they have not been able to be stopped yet. But Google is probably in the best position to act. When almost everyone on the internet has an account with Google, changing the default settings is a very strong tool.
If you go into your Google account settings, you’ll see an option to “Skip password when possible” the next time you log in. The company says you’ll see a prompt asking you to make and use passkeys.
Passwords aren’t going away right away, and it will be a long time before they’re no longer needed at all. Google will let you keep the choice to use a password, or you can choose not to use one at all for now.
To make passkeys work, Google and its fellow tech companies need to teach people how to use them and then get the rest of the tech world to join the fight. That will take time, but a lot of people already use passwords, and Google and Apple have teamed up with companies like Uber and eBay to use passkeys. WhatsApp is now said to be the next big thing in the passkey line.
There is still a long way to go in the tech industry before you can forget all of your passwords, but that impossible dream is now a huge step closer to coming true.
