Microsoft Gets Rid of Passwords With Phone Sign-In

Passwords are the worst, and Microsoft feels your pain.

Redmond has a new way to sign into your Microsoft accounts with just your telephone—no countersign necessary.

"With telephone sign-in, nosotros're shifting the security burden from your retentiveness to your device," Alex Simons, director of program management for Microsoft's Identity Segmentation, explained in a web log post.

To try it out, add your account details to the Microsoft Authenticator app for iOS and Android, then enter your Microsoft username. Instead of having to enter your password, you'll get a notification on your telephone. From in that location, merely unlock your phone, tap "Approve" and voila — you're in.

Simons said the process is "easier than standard two-step verification and significantly more secure than merely a password, which can be forgotten, phished, or compromised."

If you already employ the Microsoft Authenticator app for two-step verification, you lot tin can endeavour this new characteristic past selecting the drop-down button on your account title and tapping "Enable phone sign-in." If you don't already use Microsoft Authenticator, download the app and prepare an account. When adding a new account on Android, the app will prompt you to prepare upwards phone sign-in; on iPhone, the app will automatically set it up for y'all by default.

From at that place, "the adjacent fourth dimension you sign in, we'll send a notification to your phone," Simons wrote. "That's it!"

If for some reason you lot don't have your phone handy, you can choose to enter your password instead.

Since this feature is withal new, Microsoft is soliciting feedback about it. Caput over to the Microsoft Authenticator forum to voice your opinion, or if you need aid with phone sign-in.

Nigh Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag's adept on fitness and smart habitation products. Instruction yoga for near 10 years has helped her in evaluating a range of continued health products including fitness trackers, heart charge per unit monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, strength training machines, treadmills, and more. Angela besides tests smart habitation devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, just to name a few.