The beginning of the end for passwords was signaled by Google's announced that it has begun rolling out support for passkeys across Google accounts on all significant platforms.

Along with passwords, 2-Step Verification (2SV), and other methods of authentication, users will also have the option of signing in using passkeys.

“While passwords will be with us for some time to come, they are often frustrating to remember and put you at risk if they end up in the wrong hands,” said Christiaan Brand, Group Product Manager and Sriram Karra, Senior Product Manager at Google.

The company claims that passkeys are a new, more convenient, and secure alternative to passwords for logging into apps and 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 resistant to online attacks like phishing, making them more secure than things like SMS one-time codes,” according to Google.

Passkeys have already been implemented by services including Docusign, Kayak, PayPal, Shopify, and Yahoo Japan to simplify sign-in for their users.

“Starting today, this will be available as an option for Google Account users who want to try a passwordless sign-in experience,” said the company.

Standards for passkeys were originally created by the FIDO Alliance, a security organization with several major companies as members. Since then, Google, Apple, and Microsoft have been collaborating to make passkeys a reality.

With the release of iOS 16, Apple made its passkey option available, enabling users to use the technology across apps, including Apple Wallet. In October 2022, Passkey support was released for Chrome and Android devices; nevertheless, it is now accessible for all Google accounts, from Gmail to Drive.

People are known for choosing passwords poorly. But even adding a unique character or alphanumeric combination won't provide complete security against malicious users. Passkeys, in contrast, are generally thought to be more secure than alternative methods. Google even describes them as resistant to online attacks like phishing.

Passwords and two-factor authentication will still be supported by Google as additional account access methods.

Administrators of Google Workspace accounts will soon have the opportunity to give their end users passkeys to use when logging in.

“The change to passkeys will take time. That's why passwords and 2SV will still work for Google accounts,” said Google.