Yahoo Account Key: password-less sign-in for Yahoo accounts

Yahoo announced today the roll-out of new mobile versions of the company's Mail application that introduce new features such as multi-mailbox management and password-less sign-ins among other things.

The company launched on-demand passwords earlier this year which allowed Yahoo users to sign-in to their accounts using their username and a mobile phone number they have linked to the account previously.

Instead of entering passwords during sign-in to the account, users received a one-time password as a text message sent to their mobile phone.

The new Account Key feature goes a step further than that by allowing users to sign in to their Yahoo account without entering a password at all making the process more comfortable in the process.

The requirement is a linked mobile phone number and installation of the Yahoo Mail application on the mobile device. The process works in the following way:

1. You enter your username on Yahoo and select "continue" to use Account Key to sign-in.
2. A notification pops up courtesy of the Yahoo Mail app on the mobile device requesting confirmation that you are trying to sign-in to your account.
3. A tap on yes confirms that and will be signed-in to your account, a tap on no however blocks the process from completing.

According to Yahoo's announcement, this works for signing-in to Yahoo on the desktop and on mobile devices. The company plans to introduce the new way of logging in to Yahoo to other apps later this year.

Enable Account key on Android / iOS

Before you can make use of Account Key for your Yahoo account, you need to set it up in the Yahoo application.

iOS

1. Open the Yahoo Mail app or other apps that support Account Key.
2. Tap on the Profile Image.

Android

1. Open a Yahoo app that supports Account Key and tap on the Menu icon.

Both continued

1. Tap on the Account Key icon.
2. Tap Continue.
3. Tap "send me an account key".
4. Tap yes, and then tap "now let's try "no".
5. Tap no and then tap "got it!".
6. Tap on "Yes, enable Account Key".
7. Tap "great, got it!".

Yahoo Account Key improves the on-demand password password sign-in option that Yahoo launched earlier this year by doing away with passwords completely. It takes care of weak passwords that users set often when they create accounts, protects accounts against hacking, phishing or brute-force attacks, and will likely reduce support requests in regards to lost passwords or hacked accounts.

While you don't have to remember a password anymore to sign-in if you are using the new feature, you do need access to your mobile phone to sign-in instead. This does mean that you cannot sign-in if you don't have your phone in reach, for instance if you misplaced it, if it was stolen, or if you just forgot it at home.

There seems to be no option to sign-in with the username and password instead. While you can click or tap on the "can't access your account", they don't really help you as you need access to your phone to resolve the issue. The only option that you have in this case is to contact customer care to sort things out.

You will need to add new phone numbers that you may have switched to as well to continue using the feature. This can be done on the Account settings page.

Now You: What's your take on this new password-less sign-in option?