Prime Highlights:
- Microsoft is dropping the password storage option from its Authenticator app in August 2025.
- Users are encouraged to export the stored passwords so they won’t be left without access.
Key Facts:
- From June 2025, the application will stop saving new passwords.
- Password Autofill will be turned off in July 2025.
- All stored passwords will be deleted in August 2025, requiring users to find alternatives.
Key Background:
Microsoft has made a significant announcement regarding the Microsoft Authenticator app, where it will sunset the functionality to save and autofill passwords. Starting June 2025, users cannot save new passwords in the app. Autofill, which assists with filling in passwords on websites and apps automatically, will be turned off in July. By August, all the stored passwords will be erased permanently from the app.
The action is part of an increasing trend across the technology sector to abandon password-based authentication in favor of more secure solutions like passkeys and multi-factor authentication. Passwords have long been a vulnerable security weak point because they are prone to problems such as reuse, poor selection, and vulnerability to breaches. Passkeys, however, are device-bound credentials that are based on secure hardware or biometrics and are deemed far more secure because they never actually reside on company servers.
Microsoft also continues to support the newer authentication types in the Authenticator application and promotes users to make the switch to passwordless sign-in that is either using biometrics or two-factor authentication. Users who have been using the stored password feature must export the stored passwords prior to the deletion date so that they don’t lose access. Microsoft advises using
Microsoft Edge’s password manager or other third-party password managers as alternatives for password storage and autofilling of the same.
Removing password storage is part of Microsoft’s overall security initiative to improve user protection and encourage more secure and convenient authentication technologies. Users will need to do the following quickly: export their passwords and switch to supported methods to facilitate the transition.
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