You can use a passkey to sign in easily and securely with just a fingerprint, face scan, or screen lock. Passkeys are a simple and secure way to sign in to both your Google Account and all the sites and apps you care about — without a password. You may be asked to sign into a website with a passkey or create one to improve your account’s security.
Learn how to sign in with a passkey instead of a password.
Tip: Passkeys are built on industry standards, so you can use them across many platforms.
More about passkeys
The difference between passkeys and passwords is that passkeys are cryptographic key pairs. The key pair is specific to a website. One half is shared with the website, and the other half is private and stored on your device or in your password manager. This technology uses a securely generated code to authenticate your access to websites and apps instead of a password that may be stolen or leaked.
Benefits of passkeys include:
- You won’t have to remember a sequence of letters, numbers, and characters for each site.
- You can sign into accounts with fingerprint or facial recognition technology.
- You can use passkeys across different operating systems and browser ecosystems, and with both websites and apps.
- Passkeys are strong enough to never be guessed or reused, making them safe from hacker attempts.
- Passkeys are connected to the app or website they were created for, so you can never be tricked into using your passkey to sign in to a fraudulent app or website.
- Passkeys saved with Google Password Manager are available across your devices. You can use them on Chrome or Android when you're signed in with the same Google Account.
Use passkeys
You can store passkeys on your devices. The process is different for each operating system and may not be available on all systems.
Store passkeys on an Android device
Important: To store passkeys, your device must have Android 9.0 or up and have a screen-lock turned on.
When you use passkeys on your Android device, they’re stored in your Google Password Manager. Passkeys are securely backed up and synced between your Android devices.
Switch from password to passkeyCreate a passkey to simplify your sign in.
When you sign in to your Google Account, your available passkeys are listed.
- On your Android device, open your device settings.
- Select Passwords.
Tip: If you lose your Android device, you can recover your passkeys on a new one. Sign in to your account and provide the security PIN, pattern, or password of your lost device.
Use passkeys on another device
Important: You must be signed into Chrome with the same Google Account across your devices.
Passkeys stored in Google Password Manager sync automatically across your devices. To use them, just visit the site that you want to log into and select your passkey.
You can also use Chrome on your computer to create and use passkeys on your Android device. Your passkeys remain on your Android device.
To use a passkey from your Android device:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- Go to the sign-in page of a site that you want to log into.
- When prompted to use your passkey, tap A different device.
- You may have to tap Try another way.
- Scan the QR code with your Android device.
Tip: After you scan the QR code on your Android device, you can choose to have your devices remember each other. If you do, the computer shows your Android device as an option when you need a passkey. When you select it, you receive a notification on your device to verify your identity.