Password resets drain trust and time. Passkeys use device-based keys and biometrics. We should plan the transition before it becomes urgent.
Passwords have always been an awkward compromise. They are meant to be secret, memorable, unique, and typed correctly under pressure. In real life, they become reused, guessable, or stored in places that were never designed to be safe. Unsurprisingly, stolen credentials get bought and sold constantly, and most passwords are still too easy to crack.
The interesting shift is that the replacement is not a flashy new user interface trend. Passkeys (usually unlocked with a face scan or fingerprint) are designed to remove the shared secret altogether. Instead of sending a password to a service, a device uses a ‘private key‘ stored locally to answer a one-time ‘challenge’. The service verifies that answer with a public key it already holds. The biometric stays on the device.
Big platforms have started pushing the market in this direction. Microsoft has said new accounts would be passwordless by default, and industry voices expect broad adoption to accelerate through 2026. There is also a very practical, non-technical benefit: fewer ‘login problems’ for support. In customer-facing environments, fewer resets and fewer account-lockout journeys translate into lower cost and less brand irritation.
So what does this mean for our marketing and websites? Passwords may still be present in most online journeys, but the trend is clear. It may be worth looking at where passwords show up across sign-in, checkout, loyalty and account management, then testing a passkey in one place where the payoff is obvious.
A good place I’ve seen recommended is anywhere that a repeat customer shows up often and dislikes the friction: a membership area, a booking portal, a dashboard, a reorder process. The goal is not to be clever. The goal is to remove an old source of drop-off and risk before it removes customers for us.