Apple, Google and Microsoft take major step to get rid of passwords

People should be able to log in to websites on their computer by scanning their face with their phone, technology giants say

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Apple, Google and Microsoft have taken a major step towards getting rid of passwords.

Despite being the primary way that people log into devices and websites, passwords are notoriously unsafe. Remembering them is difficult, and often leads people to re-use the same one on different websites, drastically reducing security.

Many technologists have argued that it would be much better to create ways of signing in that don’t use passwords, and instead rely on other kinds of checks to ensure that people are who they say they are. That might include a quick device PIN, or using their fingerprint or face as on the iPhone.

Now Apple, Google and Microsoft say they will all expand support for common ways of signing in without using a password that are created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium. The new efforts will allow people to use the passwordless standards across devices.

It should mean, for instance, that people could be asked to sign into a website on their Windows PC, and use the facial scanner in their iPhone to log in.

As well as making logging in easier, that should make it harder for scammers to use attacks such as phishing to break into people’s accounts.

People should also be able to access their sign-in credentials on many devices, even new ones, without having to log in and re-enroll that device every time.

The new technologies are set to come to devices and platforms made by the three companies over the coming years.

All major technology companies have taken steps towards making it easier to log in without passwords, and occasionally getting rid of them entirely. That has included password managers that store logins, as well as biometric technology such as face and fingerprint scanners.

Microsoft, too, has long said that it wants to move towards a world where passwords are not used at all, which it claims will make people much more secure.

“The complete shift to a passwordless world will begin with consumers making it a natural part of their lives. Any viable solution must be safer, easier, and faster than the passwords and legacy multi-factor authentication methods used today,” said Alex Simons, corporate vice president, identity program management at Microsoft. “By working together as a community across platforms, we can at last achieve this vision and make significant progress toward eliminating passwords.”