Google Begins Testing Password-Free Logins

Google on Tuesday confirmed it has invited a small group of users to help test a new password-free way to sign into their accounts. "'Pizza', 'password', and '123456' — your days are numbered," a Google spokesperson said in a statement, referring to some of the most common passwords and secret question answers people use.

The new system lets you verify your identity via your smartphone, according to Reddit user Rohit Paul, who first reported the experimental feature. It works like this: You go to log in to your Google account like normal, but instead of entering your email address and password, you provide just your email. Next, Google will provide a secret code — in Paul's case, the number 21 — and tell you to look at your phone.

The Web giant will then send a message to your phone asking if you're trying to sign in. If you answer "yes," you'll then need to provide the secret code on your phone, and voila, you're in.

The test works on iOS and Android, and you can still log in with your regular typed password if you prefer, Google said. Aside from being way more user friendly than passwords, the new system can help protect against phishing schemes designed to trick users into unknowingly handing their personal details to hackers.

Meanwhile, Google isn't the first company with this idea. Yahoo in October updated iOS and Android apps with a new authentication system that uses push notifications to verify you. The blogging site Medium launched a similar system in June that lets you sign in using just an email address.