# Microsoft makes new consumer accounts passwordless by default

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/blog/2025-06-25-microsoft-moves-new-consumer-accounts-to-passwordless-by-default/
Last updated: 2026-07-27
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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Microsoft announced on 1 May 2025 that new Microsoft accounts would be passwordless by default. A new account is never enrolled with a password at all and uses a [passkey](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/passkey/) instead, across Windows, Microsoft 365, and Xbox sign-ins. Existing accounts are unaffected and keep their passwords.

Microsoft's own figures for the change: passkey sign-ins are roughly eight times faster than password plus MFA, and succeed about 98% of the time against roughly 32% for passwords. Treat vendor-reported success rates as directional, but the gap is large enough that the direction is not in doubt.

## Why it matters

The significance is defaults, not technology. [WebAuthn](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/webauthn-fido2/) has been deployable for years, and adoption stalled because passwords remained the path of least resistance. A default that never creates a password removes the fallback that attackers rely on: there is no credential to phish, spray, or stuff.

For enterprises the read-across is direct. Consumers arriving at your service will increasingly expect passkey enrollment to be the normal path rather than an advanced option buried in security settings. If your [passwordless rollout](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/authentication/implementing-passkeys-enterprise/) still treats passkeys as opt-in alongside a password of record, you are keeping the attackable credential while paying for the alternative. Our [passkeys primer](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/authentication/passkeys-101/) covers what changes operationally, particularly around recovery, which is where these programmes usually stall.

Source: [Microsoft Security Blog: pushing passkeys forward](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/05/01/pushing-passkeys-forward-microsofts-latest-updates-for-simpler-safer-sign-ins/)