PayPal has begun rolling out passkeys for Google Android devices.
The rollout has begun with Android mobile web users in the United States and will expand to more users over the next 12 months, PayPal said in a Thursday (March 23) press release.
“Once a PayPal user creates a passkey, users won’t need to remember or type in their password to log in, allowing them to check out with greater ease,” PayPal said in the release. “Passwords are still here to stay on PayPal. With the option to create a passkey, Android users can take the next step toward a passwordless future, today.”
PayPal’s passkeys are already available on Apple iOS. When launching this option in October, PayPal said that it aims to add a new level of security while catering to a growing cohort of consumers who want password-free commerce.
PayPal is among the first financial service companies to deploy passkeys, which are a new industry standard created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium, according to the release.
Passkeys use cryptographic key pairs and digital credentials to replace passwords, the release said.
“This cutting-edge security standard is significant as passkeys will eventually address one of the biggest security problems on the web, which is the weakness of password authentication because passkeys are highly resistant to phishing, credential stuffing and other remote attacks,” PayPal said in the release.
Plans to implement passkey sign-in across platforms by Google, Microsoft and Apple have generated plenty of excitement, Lenny Gusel, former head of cybersecurity solutions at J.P. Morgan and fraud strategy executive at Bank of America, told PYMNTS in a November interview.
Support from major hardware and software manufacturers will simplify the move away from passwords and multifactor authentication (MFA) as it has existed to this point, Gusel said at the time.
PYMNTS research has found that despite the widespread use of passwords, most consumers are comfortable with the idea of ditching them.
Sixty-one percent of consumers are willing to use non-password login methods and 45% are very comfortable with security using non-password login methods, according to “The Future of Authentication in Financial Services,” a PYMNTS and Entersekt collaboration.