GOV.UK One Login lets 23 million users sign in with a passkey instead of a password
In its first month, 300,000 people switched to signing in with a face, fingerprint or device passcode. The government expects to save millions on text-message codes.
The Government Digital Service (GDS) has introduced passkeys for GOV.UK One Login, the account 23 million people use for more than 250 UK government services. Users can now sign in the way they unlock their phone or computer, with a face, fingerprint or passcode, without a password or a security code sent by text.
In the first month, 300,000 users, almost 10 per cent, have adopted them, GDS wrote. It calls the change the biggest to the One Login sign-in since the service launched in 2021.
Why passkeys
The National Cyber Security Centre recommends passkeys wherever possible because they resist phishing: there is no secret for a fake website to collect. GDS expects them to save the taxpayer millions a year by cutting the cost of text-message authentication, and to more than halve the time it takes to sign in.
Designed for people who struggle
GDS surveyed more than 2,500 people before the change. It found that users struggle to remember passwords, so they reuse them and write them down, and that entering security codes is hard for many people, especially those with cognitive impairments, low digital confidence or assistive technology.
"For GOV.UK One Login users, authentication is not their end goal," the team wrote. It is a step on the way to renewing a licence or claiming a benefit.
Singapore's Singpass made a similar move this year. For governments running a single sign-in, passkeys combine two goals that usually pull against each other: stronger security and less friction for the people least able to cope with it.
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