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 all platforms where Chrome is available 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 in Google Password Manager
You can store passkeys in Google Password Manager if you use:
- Windows computer
- Mac with macOS 12 or up
- Linux
Passkeys are stored in your Google Account and protected by your Android device’s PIN, pattern, or password, or by a Google Password Manager PIN.
To save passkeys in Google Password Manager, make sure you’re signed into your Google Account on an eligible computer. When you visit a site which supports passkeys, you'll be asked if you'd like to create a passkey in Google Password Manager.
If you previously created a passkey on an Android device, you'll need its PIN, pattern, or password to unlock your passkeys.
Manage passkeys in Google Password Manager- On your computer, open Chrome.
- Select More
Passwords and autofill
When you sign in to a site with a password saved in Google Password Manager, Google Password Manager may upgrade the password to a passkey. When a password is upgraded, Google Password Manager shows a notification to let you know that the site created a passkey for you.
To turn automatic passkey upgrades off:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- At the top right, select More
- On the left, select Settings
.
- Turn off Automatically create a passkey to sign in faster.
Tip: If there’s no “Automatically create a passkey to sign in faster” in Google Password Manager settings, turn on Offer to save passwords and passkeys. “Automatically create a passkey to sign in faster” becomes an option beneath this setting.
Store passkeys in Windows
If you have Windows 10 or up, you can use passkeys. To store passkeys, you must set up Windows Hello. Windows Hello doesn’t currently support synchronization or backup, so passkeys are only saved to your computer. If your computer is lost or the operating system is reinstalled, you can’t recover your passkeys.
Important: To use passkey management and passkey autofill, your computer must have Windows 11, version 22H2 or up.
Manage passkeys in Windows- On your computer, open Chrome.
- Select More
- On the left, select Settings
Tip: “Manage passkeys” only shows when one or more passkeys have been created.
Store passkeys in macOS
You can save passkeys in your Chrome profile, where they’re protected by a macOS Keychain. If your macOS computer is signed in to an iCloud account, Chrome can store passkeys in Apple Passwords. MacOS asks you to confirm Chrome’s access to use passkeys from Apple Passwords.
If you don't have an iCloud account, you can also save passkeys in your Chrome profile. If your computer is lost or the Chrome profile is deleted, you can’t recover your passkeys.
Manage passkeys in macOS- On your computer, open Chrome.
- Select More
- On the left, select Settings
Tips:
- “Manage passkeys in your Chrome profile” only shows when one or more passkeys have been created.
- You can delete saved passkeys on your Chrome profile when you delete your browsing data.
Store passkeys on a security key
You can use a security key to store your passkeys.
Important: Passkeys stored on security keys aren’t backed-up. If you lose or reset the security key, you can’t recover your passkeys.
Use passkeys on another device
You can use Chrome on your computer to create and use passkeys on another device. Your passkeys remain on the other 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, select A different device.
- You may have to select Try another way.
- Scan the QR code with your mobile device.
Tip: After you scan the QR code on a mobile device, you can choose to have your devices remember each other. If you do, the computer shows your mobile device as an option when you need a passkey. When you select it, you receive a notification on your device to verify your identity.