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To make passkeys easier to use, Google is starting to sync them across Android and desktop devices, including Windows PCs.
The change is coming to Google Password Manager, which previously could only store passkeys on Android phones and not share them directly with any PCs you happen to own.
The limitation has been a drag on passkeys, the tech industry’s latest effort to kill old-school passwords. But on Thursday, Google said it had added the ability for desktop users to easily access their passkeys on their Android devices.
“Up until now, you could only save passkeys to Google Password Manager on Android,” Chrome product manager Chirag Desai says in a blog post. “You could use them on other devices, but you'd need to scan a QR code using your Android device.”
(Credit: Google)But thanks to a new update, Google Password Manager can now save passkeys from Windows, macOS, Linux computers, and Android devices, with support for ChromeOS laptops currently in beta testing.
“Once they're saved, they'll automatically sync across your devices, making signing in as easy as scanning your fingerprint,” Desai says, pointing out the benefits.
PCMag tried out the new capability on Thursday by creating passkeys for Best Buy and Amazon using our Android phone. Then through the Chrome browser, our Mac computer was able to use the same passkeys by pulling them from our Google Password Manager account, making the whole experience of logging in far easier than trying to recall and type in the password.
This promises to allow users to access passkeys from one software ecosystem on another since Google’s Chrome browser is available for multiple operating systems. Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s macOS and iOS also support passkeys, but silo them in their own software ecosystems.
To protect passkeys during the synchronization process, Google says it can require users to register and type in a PIN to access the passkey between devices. “This PIN adds an additional layer of security to ensure your passkeys are end-to-end encrypted and can't be accessed by anyone, not even Google,” Desai says. Users will be able to set a six-digit pin, or choose from other options.
Google is rolling out the capability as passkey adoption has been gaining steam, especially after sites including eBay, Target, and Coinbase adopted them. You can learn more about setting up passkeys with a Google account by checking out our guide.