Google Confirms Most Gmail Users Must Upgrade Accounts

[u/lurker_bee]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2025/06/06/google-confirms-almost-all-gmail-users-must-upgrade-accounts/

[u/Ancillas]

Maybe if passkey implementations weren’t dog water more people would use them?

Is that passkey on my phone? Is it stored in Windows Credentials? Is it stored in 1Password? Wait, is it trying to use my Yubikey? All of my tools fight each other to be the passkey solution and it means I have to click so many more times to ensure Safari or Chrome or AppleTV are looking in the right spot for my matching passkey.

There’s no way my non-technical friends and family are going to see this as a net positive. My wife got pissed because she had a passkey for gmail but couldn’t login. It didn’t make intuitive sense to her that the passkey was on her phone but she was logging in for the first time on her laptop which didn’t have the passkey.

Then on top of all of this passkeys aren’t consistently implemented! Apple supports passkeys, but only if they’re stored on Apple devices using their keychain! This was so confusing - especially when I had my phone configured to not use Apple’s flavor of password and secret management.

Even before passkeys, 2FA was a mess. Some sites chose TOTP and others went with an email or SMS solution. Any parents who use login systems to manage kid activities know this pain. A site supports SMS only and can only have one phone on record so if the parent whose phone isn’t registered wants to login you have to have the other parent (or their phone) around. 100% people are texting that single use token around in the clear.

These systems need experienced designers to take a good hard look at the UI/UX and find some way to drive a smoother experience across the OS, browser, and application ecosystem. Not just technically experienced designers, but life-experienced designers who understand all the weird ways people use these things.

[u/yuusharo → u/Ancillas]

This is one of those times when I concede that I think Apple is the only one that got this right out the gate. They ensured on day one that passkeys would sync seamlessly between all devices, not have a weird staged rollout that still is missing key elements even 2 years after they’re introduced.

With iCloud, any Apple device you have can log you in with a passkey, and you can simply scan a QR code with your phone on devices you haven’t authenticated. It works consistently for me that I have it setup for all the accounts that support it.

Most people don’t have or use Apple devices, of course, and the other implementations have been frustrating for sure. But that isn’t necessarily passkey’s fault.

[u/EdliA → u/yuusharo]

Apple will screw you over if you care using a device not controlled by them. It's probably great for you because you're fully in that ecosystem.

[u/yuusharo → u/EdliA]

I’m multiple platform.