World Password Day may soon need a rebrand, as the FIDO Alliance survey shows that half of people in the US and UK have begun ditching the password in favor of more convenient and secure passwordless alternatives.

An independent survey commissioned by the FIDO Alliance found that 53% of people have enabled passkeys on at least one of their accounts, with 22% enabling them on every account they possibly can. In separate research, the Alliance found that passkeys are now supported by 20% of the world's top 100 websites and 12% of the top 250. 

This shift away from passwords toward passkeys is being driven by three key trends; people's concerns over password security, their frustrations in using them, and the growing availability of passkeys on major websites and services.

The Alliance's research found that in the last year, 24% of people had at least one of their accounts compromised due to password vulnerabilities, and 26% had to reset or recover at least one password every month. In addition, 45% of consumers will abandon purchases if they have forgotten their password for that particular account. This is hugely significant for passkey adoption, as 61% of people familiar with passkeys consider them to be more convenient than passwords, and 58% believe they offer greater security. 

The availability of passkeys has also increased steadily over the last year, with Microsoft today announcing that Microsoft accounts, including a wide range of services like Bing, Microsoft 365 and Xbox.com - now also support passkeys. This is added to support from large global consumer brands, such as Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Google, Hyatt, Nintendo, PayPal, PlayStation, Shopify and TikTok. In all, more than 13 billion user accounts can now leverage passkeys for sign in. 

As a result of high-profile passkey deployments like these, awareness of the technology has grown to 62% of people, according to the research. Among people with some knowledge of passkeys, those enabling them on at least one account rises substantially to 74%, while those enabling passkeys on every account possible rises to 32%. This suggests that adoption will only increase as more people become more familiar with passkeys.

"It was just two years ago that FIDO Alliance, alongside the world's largest platform providers, introduced the vision for passkeys to accelerate the scale and usability of password-free sign-ins. The market's reaction since then has been nothing short of phenomenal, with hundreds of services enabling billions of consumers to use passkeys," said Andrew Shikiar, executive director and CEO of the FIDO Alliance. "We expect this trend to accelerate in the months and years ahead, and our research makes it clear that when offered, people prefer the better security and usability of passkeys over passwords."