Yahoo wants to kill passwords for good

Passwords
RIP passwords, we hate you

Everyone has a portfolio of passwords to remember for individual services, making it all too easy to forget– Yahoo wants to make the process easier with a feature that means you'll never have to remember a password for its email service ever again.

Yahoo's newly announced on-demand password feature will send you the password for your email account by SMS to your mobile phone whenever you need it.

The company revealed the scheme at a session in SXSW and has outlined the steps to the service on its own Tumblr.

Yahoo asks for a specific setting to be turned on and your mobile phone number, then the next time you try to log in Yahoo will automatically send the password to your mobile phone.

Security concerns

The service is currently only available in the US and Yahoo has yet to confirm whether it will be rolled out to other territories.

There are certainly going to be problems with the service as you may be without your mobile when accessing emails or out of phone signal, but Yahoo's system hopes to be more secure than a standard password.

It may mean your details could be compromised if you lose your mobile device and Yahoo has yet to comment whether it has a plan to keep things tight and secure.

However, if it all works out, Yahoo could potentially lead the charge into a time where we're less dependent on the tatty piece of paper with all our passwords scrawled on it.

Not that we'd ever do that...

James Peckham

James is the Editor-in-Chief at Android Police. Previously, he was Senior Phones Editor for TechRadar, and he has covered smartphones and the mobile space for the best part of a decade bringing you news on all the big announcements from top manufacturers making mobile phones and other portable gadgets. James is often testing out and reviewing the latest and greatest mobile phones, smartwatches, tablets, virtual reality headsets, fitness trackers and more. He once fell over.

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