Microsoft officially removes the recorded passwords in its Authenticator application. From August 2025, the application will no longer support automatic storage or password storage. Instead, users will have to replace passwords saved by Passkeys – a new safer connection method that is linked to your device and your biometric identifier.
This is the last movement of the current thrust of Microsoft to leave passwords behind. Last year, the technology giant would have detected 7,000 password attacks per second. With increased cyber attacks and risk identification information, Microsoft considers Passkeys as central to a safer future.
But what are Passkeys and why are they safer than passwords? And how long do you have until Microsoft Authenticator forgets your passwords for good? We have broken down everything you need to know here.
What is Microsoft Authenticator?
Microsoft Authenticator is a free mobile application for Android and iOS devices. It helps you connect to your accounts more safely. Originally designed as an authentication tool with two factors (2FA) for Microsoft accounts, it spread later to include backup and update passwords.
Users can use the authenticator to store connections, synchronize them on devices and automatically automatically identifying websites on websites and applications. Once the passwords have been saved on Authenticator, you can check the signs using your fingerprint, your facial recognition or a spindle.
It changes now. Microsoft is support for the SunSing password in Authenticator, rather going on a more recent and safer connection method: Passkeys.
When will Microsoft Authenticator passwords stop working?
Microsoft has already started to complete password management in Authenticator. Its calendar to eliminate the recorded passwords is as follows:
- June 2025: You can no longer add new passwords to the Authenticator application.
- From July 2025: Functionally automatically for saved passwords will be disabled, which means that the application will not be the complete connection details automatically.
- From August 2025: All recorded passwords will be permanently deleted from Microsoft Authenticator.
According to a notification of the application, you can export recorded passwords “until the end of the fire”. You can do so by heading to the settings menu and selecting “export passwords”. The exported passwords can then be imported into another automatic supplier, including your Google account or the iCloud trousseau.
Alternatively, you can activate Edge as an automatic supplier. From this same notification, just press “turn on the edge”. Since saved passwords are synchronized with your Microsoft account, Edge will have access to your connection identification information, including automatic features.
What are Passkeys?
Passkeys is another way to connect to your account. Instead of counting on a word or sentence which you need to remember or record, the pass keys use biometrics or a pin to check your identity.
Passkeys is a diploma developed by Fast Identity Online Alliance (Fido). They use an open authentication protocol designed to completely replace passwords.
When you create a passing touch, your device stores a private key. To connect, you simply unlock your device using facial recognition, your fingerprint or a pin number. This corresponding public key then checks your online identity against the private key.
Why is Passkeys safer than passwords?
Passwords have long been the lowest link in online security. Since the advent of passwords, people have used weak and easily supposed sentences to help them remember their own connection identification information. Many people are also used to reusing the same passwords or similar variants on different accounts.
This tactic leaves particularly vulnerable users if a data violation exposes their password. Passwords also expose people at the risk of phlinging scams, a growing number of which aim to steal their identification information.
Passkeys solves all these problems. Unlike passwords, they are not tapped, sent or stored on a server. Passkeys is kept on your own device. This means that there is nothing for cybercriminals to intercept.
In addition, because they are linked to both your device and your identity, they are a much stronger form of authentication than a standard password. They cannot be stolen or cracked like a password, even with brute force assumptions.
Passkeys also has the additional advantage of being easier to use. Microsoft estimates that the signs of Lakekey have a success rate of 98%, against only 32% for passwords.
Because Passkeys is linked to devices, some users will be anxious to lose their smartphone. However, many people already have and use several devices ready for the Passkey, including tablets and laptops with a biometric support. Even if you lose access to a device, others can be used as a backup.
Microsoft is not the only one to put pressure for the use of the key key. Google, Apple and Amazon, among others, also adopt Pass keys. The Fido Alliance says that more than 15 billion accounts now support the signs of Lakeke. Microsoft reported that he saw “nearly a million keys of passages” recorded each day.
How to configure a passing key in Microsoft Authenticator
For users of the existing Authenticator application, starting with Passkeys is simple. Just open the Authenticator application, choose your account from the settings menu and select “Configure a pass key”. You will be asked to connect with the identification information of your account, before being crossed the rest of the configuration process.
If you configure the authenticator for the first time, the application can invite you to authorize the authenticator as a passkeys source in the password settings of your device. Do this, press Continue and you will be ready to use Passkeys.
You can also configure Passkeys via your online Microsoft account. Connect to your Microsoft account, then locate “advanced safety options”. Select “Add a new way to connect or check”, followed by “Face, Fingerprint, Pin or Safety Key”.
According to an article published by Microsoft, it “automatically detects the best method available on your account and will define it as default”. This means that even where you have both a password and a passkey configured on your behalf, it will always invite you to your Passkey first.
The new Microsoft accounts will use Passkeys by default. The connection process has also been redesigned and simplified to prioritize connections without password.
