Microsoft accounts finally gain passkey support

Microsoft has rolled out support for passkeys to all consumer accounts, allowing users to log into services without using a password.

Passkeys are slowly growing in popularity with services, since they offer a secure way to authenticate a user. Already a supporter of the passkey standard, Microsoft is now bringing support for it to all consumer Microsoft accounts.

The change, introduced on May 2, means users can add a passkey to their Microsoft account. Once enabled, users can sign into Microsoft accounts via an iPhone or another mobile device, taking advantage of that device's biometric security.

Facial recognition by Face ID and fingerprints via Touch ID are supported, as well as security keys and PINs. After being authenticated on the mobile device, the account is then accessible.

Passkeys can be used to sign into Microsoft apps and websites, including Microsoft 365 and Copilot on desktop and mobile browsers. Passkey support for mobile apps is expected in the coming weeks.

Microsoft's wider addition follows after the adoption of Passkeys by many other tech companies.

Aside from Apple, companies like Paypal and Google have supported passkeys for over a year. X added it to the mobile app on April 9.

5 Comments

VictorMortimer 239 comments · New User

About 6 months ago

Just what everybody should aspire to, joining Xitter in this silliness.

kkqd1337 468 comments · 12 Years

Honestly I don’t really understand the pass-wordless concept

As I understand it you still need a password in case your passwordless option fails?

22july2013 3725 comments · 11 Years

kkqd1337 said:

As I understand it you still need a password in case your passwordless option fails?

That password is probably needed in the case where you trust some company to store your passkey file online. But online storage is probably not required. If you store it locally instead, you may be given a choice of using a password or not. But if you do store it locally, you still have to worry about backing it up whenever you make any change to the passkeys file. And most people don't do backups.

Someone is going to lose their passkeys backup file and then complain that they've lost access to everything. They put all their eggs in one basket, and paid the price.

StrangeDays 12959 comments · 8 Years

VictorMortimer said:

Just what everybody should aspire to, joining Xitter in this silliness.

This has zilch to do with that crap hole platform. Apple lead the charge with passkeys and I’m here for it — they’re tokens rather than passwords which makes them more secure because you dont have to worry about the sites being hacked and leaking your passwords, which has happened to me countless times now. In this sense they’re akin to Apple Pay which also uses tokens rather than the magic cc numbers.

jpellino 707 comments · 18 Years

Good.

Recently moved our biz eMail service to Exchange.

Their (seemingly ever-changing) login verification system is a twisty path for all involved.
This will at least put it in the set-it-and-forget-it realm for Apple users.

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