Microsoft is making all new accounts passwordless by default
- New Microsoft accounts will use passkeys by default, company reveals
- Existing users can also delete their passwords
- The login experience has an updated interface
Microsoft will be making all new accounts passwordless by default in a bid to push users towards more secure authentication methods that revolve around passkeys, push notifications and security keys.
“Microsoft and dozens of other organizations have taken the Passkey Pledge to work toward increasing the implementation and adoption of passkeys over the coming year,” Microsoft explained in a blog post.
Naturally, existing users can also opt in to delete their traditional passwords via account settings in favor of more secure options.
Microsoft goes passwordless by default
Claiming that it “helped lay the foundation for an entirely new era of authentication,” Microsoft’s blog post takes us back ten years to the launch of Microsoft Hello, which allowed users to log into machines with secure biometrics.
“To keep your digital life safe, you need a way to sign into any account without a password,” Joy Chik and Vasu Jakkal explained.
But why is it important to move away from less secure simple passwords?
Apparently, Microsoft observed more than 7,000 password attacks per second last year, marking a twofold year-over-year increase.
However, while passkeys make for a more secure account, the company noted that old-style accounts with basic passwords can expect to see even more attack attempts. All the more reason to go passwordless across all accounts – not just your Microsoft account.
They’re also speedier, offering a log-in experience eight times quicker compared with the password and MFA combination.
Passkeys for consumer apps like Xbox and Copilot already became available in 2024, and now, more than a million are being registered each day.
Other recent announcements include an updated login user experience, with a simpler style introduced in March 2025 prioritizing passworldess methods, all of which just in time for yesterday’s World Password Day.
From now, “new users will have several passwordless options for signing into their account and they’ll never need to enroll a password.”
If Microsoft’s decision to go passwordless has got you inspired to transition to passkeys across more services, check out the entire list of participators across the FIDO Alliance’s Passkey Pledge, including Amazon, Apple, Dashlane, Google and tens more.
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