Google is replacing passwords with passkeys for more security — here's how they're different

• Google is rolling out a passkey feature meant to create a password-less login experience for users.
• Unlike passwords, users don't have to remember passkeys, or worry so much about their accounts being hacked, Google said.

That old password you've been recycling for years may soon be obsolete as Google moves toward a new way for users to access their online accounts.

The tech giant said it's adding passkeys as "a safer and easier replacement for passwords" that eliminates the need to create a password that's either impossible to remember or easily guessed by hackers. In its announcement, Google said the experience is similar to that of its saved passwords feature.

Unlike passwords, users won't have to come up with a passkey to access an account. If passkeys are enabled on their Google account, they can have a unique one created for any site that they log into. Instead of entering a password, they would simply verify their identity on a trusted device with a PIN, fingerprint, or face scan.

Passkeys aren't meant to be remembered — or even known — by users. They're used by an online service to communicate directly with your device to help log in, per the Associated Press. As a result, Google alleges your accounts would become much harder to hack.

"The same passkey is never used with more than one site," the announcement read. "Passkey protocols are carefully designed so that no information shared with sites can be used as a tracking vector."

Passkeys are designed to work across most operating systems, so they are useful on an iPhone, Android, Macs, and Windows computers, according to Google.