Sign in with a passkey instead of a password

Passkeys are a simple and secure alternative to passwords. With a passkey, you can sign in to your Google Account with your fingerprint, face scan, or device screen lock, like a PIN.

Passkeys provide the strongest protection against threats like phishing. Once you create a passkey, you can use it to sign in to your Google Account easily and to verify it’s you when you make sensitive changes.

Important:

  • If your account has 2-Step Verification or is enrolled in the Advanced Protection Program, you will bypass your second authentication step by signing in with a passkey, since this verifies that you have possession of your device.
Please keep in mind that while you are more than welcome to use this feature, do so at your own discretion as not all the features are functional on all UWF-owned equipment.  

Check what you need to create a passkey

You can create passkeys on these devices:

  • A laptop or desktop that runs at least Windows 10, macOS Ventura, or ChromeOS 109
  • A mobile device that runs at least iOS 16 or Android 9

Your computer or mobile device will also need a supported browser like:

  • Chrome 109 or up
  • Safari 16 or up
  • Edge 109 or up

To create and use a passkey, your device must have the following enabled:

  • Screen lock
  • Bluetooth

Tip: To ensure the best passkeys experience, we recommend you update to the latest available releases for your operating system.

Depending on your operating system and browser, you may not be able to create or use passkeys while in private browsing mode like incognito or other equivalent. 

For this feature to function correctly on Windows 10, you need to enable Windows Hello, which is not an option for UWF-owned devices.

Create a passkey

Important: When you create a passkey, you opt into a passkey-first, password-less sign-in experience. Create passkeys only on personal devices that you control. Even if you sign out of your Google Account, once you create a passkey on a device, anyone who can unlock the device can sign back into your Google Account with the passkey.

You may need to sign in to your Google Account or verify it’s really you. For more information, go to g.co/passkeys.

  • If your account already has passkeys, they will be listed here. If not you will need to do the following:
  • Log into your Gmail account either from gmail.com or through Gmail For Students/Faculty and Staff
  • From there you will need to click on the icon in the upper right-hand corner and select Manage your Google Account

Manage your google account screen

  • Here you will select the security tab, locate the "How you sign into Google" box, and then select the passkeys option at the bottom

Google settings page

  • From there, you will have the option to create a passkey and it will give you device-specific instructions on what it will use to authenticate: typically, this would be a fingerprint or facial recognition.

Passkey screen


Tip: Once you create your first passkey, you’re prompted to create a passkey on any supported device that you use to sign in to your Google Account. If you don’t want other users to access your account, do not create a passkey on a shared device.

Using a passkey

  • Sign into Gmail (or Google adjacent product)

gmail log in

  • Click the "try another way" if prompted. If you continuously use the passkey it will default to asking for it instead of a password and vice versa. 

try another way

  • From there you should see the following. Once you hit continue, you will be prompted to authenticate either via fingerprint or facial recognition. 

Passkey Screen



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