How to manage passkeys for your Google Account

Passkeys are digital keys that combine cryptography and biometrics to create a more secure and convenient way to authenticate online identity. Instead of remembering and typing a password, you can use a fingerprint reader or Face ID to verify your identity and gain access to your online accounts.

What are Google’s requirements for passkeys to work?

To use passkeys for your Google Account, your authentication device must meet the following requirements:

• An Android device that runs at least Android 9.

• An iOS device that runs at least iOS 17.

• A macOS device that runs at least Ventura.

• A Windows computer that runs at least Windows 10.

• If you use a hardware key for passkey authentication, check whether it supports the FIDO2 protocol.

• If you use NordPass for passkey management, make sure you have the app or extension installed on your device.

How to set up a passkey for your personal Google Account

Google Account settings follow a similar layout on different devices, so you can follow the setup instructions to your convenience:

1. In your Google Account settings, select the “Security” tab.

2. Under “How you sign in to Google,” select “Passkeys and security keys.” You may be asked to verify your identity.

3. Select “Use passkeys” to switch on passkey authentication. Then, select “Create a passkey.” You will be prompted to unlock your device.

4. That’s it! You can now use a passkey to access your Google Account.

If you use your Google Account on multiple devices, you can set up unique passkeys for each one.

In the same Google Security settings, you can choose to use passkeys as your primary login method:

1. Under “How you sign in to Google,” select “Skip password when possible.”

2. Toggle on “Skip password when possible” and return to settings.

How to set up passkeys for Google Workspace

If your organization uses Google Workspace, you may be able to set up a passkey as the primary or secondary authentication method. First, your organization administrator has to switch on passwordless authentication for all Workspace accounts.

For admins:

1. Log in to your Google Workspace account.

2. In the Admin Panel, go to the “Security” tab.

3. Under “Authentication,” select “Passwordless.”

4. Select “Skip passwords.” For more granular controls, you can adjust this setting for specific departments in your organization.

5. Optionally, check the “Allow users to skip their password and authenticate with a passkey” box to make passkeys the primary authentication method.

6. Select “Save.” All users in your organization will now be able to set up a passkey. If you completed step 5, the passkey set up will be mandatory.

For end users:

1. In your Google Account settings, select the “Security” tab.

2. Under “How you sign in to Google,” select “Passkeys and security keys.” You may be required to enter your account password to proceed.

3. Select “Use passkeys.” Then, select “Create a passkey.”

4. You will be prompted to unlock your device to create the passkey.

5. You can now use a passkey as an authentication method.

Depending on your organization’s settings, the passkey will work either as a primary or secondary authentication step. If you use more than one device to access Google Workspace, you can create unique passkeys for each one.

How to save and manage passkeys for your Google Account in NordPass

Having a Google Account passkey tied to your device can pose some challenges. If you suddenly lose access to that device, you won’t be able to use the passkey to log in to your account. While you can resort to alternative login methods like entering your account password, a simpler solution is creating a passkey with a third-party provider like NordPass.

Saving, logging in, and managing your Google Account passkey in NordPass

To set up a passkey for your Google Account, you need to use the Nordpass browser extension.

1. Log in to your NordPass account to keep it running in the background.

2. In your Google Account settings, select the “Security” tab.

3. Under “How you sign in to Google,” select “Passkeys and security keys.”

4. Click “Use passkeys” to switch on passkey authentication.

5. Click “Create a passkey.” You may be prompted to enter your account password.

6. You will see a NordPass pop-up prompting you to create a passkey. Add a title to the passkey and select “Create.”

7. In the Google Account screen, click “Done.”

That’s it! You’ve created a Google Account passkey with NordPass. Thanks to synchronization, you will be able to use it to log in to Google on any device that has NordPass installed.

To manage your passkey, go to your NordPass vault. In the “Passkeys” tab, locate your Google Account passkey. Click the three dots on the right side of this passkey and select “Edit.” You can add extra information using custom fields.

If you want to delete your NordPass passkey, you can do so in the Google Account security settings. Alternatively, you can switch off passkeys as the primary authentication method, as detailed in the instructions above.

1. In the Security settings, select “Passkeys and security keys.”

2. You will see a list of passkeys connected to your Google Account. Select the “X” next to the NordPass passkey.

3. Confirm your selection. If you want to add a NordPass passkey to your Google Account in the future, follow the previous instructions.

Note that disconnecting NordPass from your Google Account passkey options doesn’t automatically remove the passkey from your vault. To remove it, click the three dots on the right side of the passkey in your vault and select “Move to trash.” 

Using Google to sign in to your Nord Account or Nord Business Account

It’s not recommended to store both your Google account password and passkey in NordPass if you use Google as an authentication service to sign in to NordPass. If you are using Google single sign-on (SSO), you need to log in to your Google account first before unlocking NordPass. For this reason, you should not depend solely on NordPass for accessing your Google account.

However, you can still use passkeys to access your Google account. There are two workarounds to use passkeys for the Google account used to log in to NordPass:

Google offers passkey authentication as an alternative to passwords, which means that you can use both a passkey and a password to log in to your Google account. A password can be used when signing in to NordPass, while a passkey stored in NordPass can be used to log in to your Google account in other cases.

Alternatively, you can create multiple passkeys for your Google account and use the one not provided by NordPass to log in to your NordPass account. Another passkey, provided by NordPass, can be used to log in to your Google account whenever it's needed.

Frequently asked questions