Encouraging passkey adoption without forcing it
Many companies hit the same point with passkeys.
Support is live. Security teams are happy. You’ve got leadership bought in. On paper, it’s a win.
And then adoption… stalls.
That’s when the instinctive response kicks in: push harder.
Remove passwords. Block OTP. Force passkey creation at the next login. Make it mandatory and move on.
Sometimes that creates a short-term bump. But in a lot of real-world products, it backfires fast.
The reason is simple: passkey adoption is a behavioral challenge, not a compliance exercise.
FIDO Alliance research shows awareness is rising, but only 57 percent of consumers say they’re familiar with passkeys. That means nearly half of your users are still forming their first impression. If the first time they encounter passkeys is inside a forced flow, the emotion they associate with the “upgrade” is not convenience or security. It’s anxiety.
And once users feel anxious about account access, they don’t experiment. They resist. They avoid. They file tickets.
Why mandates often fail
- Users interpret force as risk
When users are told they must switch authentication methods without understanding why, they assume something is being taken away: control, recovery options, the ability to get back in if something goes wrong.
That reaction is amplified in financial apps, wallets, and marketplaces where account access is high-stakes. The moment users feel like their access is being constrained, they stop viewing passkeys as “easier.” They start viewing them as “dangerous.”
- Mandatory flows amplify edge-case failures
No authentication system has a 100 percent success rate across every device, OS version, and user state. That’s just reality.
When passkeys are optional, an edge-case failure is annoying. When passkeys are mandatory, one failure feels catastrophic.
Users get stuck. Fallback feels like a loophole. Support volume spikes. And the blame lands on passkeys, not on the edge case.
- People remember the first bad experience
Google has reported over one billion passkey authentications across hundreds of millions of accounts, but that scale works because users are rarely hard-blocked. They’re guided over time. They’re not trapped.
The first time a user is forced into a passkey flow that doesn’t work for them, that’s usually the last time they trust it. And in consumer products, trust is the whole game.
The alternative: organic adoption through behavioral design
The teams that see sustained passkey usage tend to borrow from proven adoption mechanics used in payments, onboarding, and feature rollout. Not because they’re “softer,” but because they’re more effective.
Principle 1: meet users where motivation already exists
Don’t prompt passkey creation at random. Create the ask inside moments where the user already wants something:
- immediately after a successful login
- after a password reset (when frustration is high)
- after suspicious activity or an alert (when security feels relevant)
- during repeat sign-in flows where friction is already felt
In those moments, the benefit is immediate, not abstract. Users adopt new behaviors when the payoff is clear right now, not explained in a banner.
Principle 2: make the next step obvious and safe
Generic banners are easy to ignore. In-context prompts convert because they feel like part of the flow.
A strong prompt does three things:
- it’s positioned inside the moment (not outside the action)
- it explains what will happen next
- it states the benefit in one sentence
And most importantly, it reduces fear by making it clear there are still options.
Example framing:
“This lets you sign in with Face ID on this device. You can still use another method if needed.”
That single line removes the “what if I get locked out?” hesitation without undermining adoption.
Principle 3: defaults build habits faster than education
Once a passkey works successfully, the default behavior matters more than your messaging.
If users have to actively choose passkeys every time, many will revert to passwords out of habit. If passkeys become the natural default on that device, usage grows quietly and consistently.
Google’s rollout reflects this: passkeys became a primary sign-in option, not a buried setting. Repetition creates habit. Habit creates trust.
Principle 4: progressive nudges beat one-time asks
Passkey adoption is rarely a single decision. It’s a gradual shift in behavior.
The most effective products:
- start with a light prompt
- reinforce after a successful use
- escalate only once confidence is built
This is the same model used for saved cards, biometric payments, and other high-trust behavior changes. A soft reminder after the third successful login often converts better than a hard block on the first.
Principle 5: fallback should exist, but it shouldn’t be the star
You need fallbacks. Every serious product does.
But how fallback is presented can either support adoption or kill it.
If fallback is too prominent, users skip passkeys entirely and habits never form.
If fallback is hidden, users feel trapped and trust erodes instantly.
The right middle ground is:
- fallback is available when needed
- the product explains why fallback is happening
- the user is guided back to passkey-first flows afterward
- fallback is framed as temporary, not preferred
Device binding makes behavioral nudges work better
All of these principles work best when the passkey experience is consistent and predictable.
Device-bound passkeys reinforce a simple mental model:
- this device is my key
- I unlock it the same way every time
- phishing sites can’t trick me into giving it away
That predictability is what makes nudges feel safe rather than manipulative.
FIDO and platform providers consistently emphasize that passkeys are phishing-resistant because they’re tied to the legitimate relying party and unlocked locally on the device. The user doesn’t need to “understand cryptography” for adoption to work. They just need the experience to be repeatable and reliable.
If passkeys feel inconsistent across devices, nudges lose credibility quickly.
How to tell if adoption is actually working
Most teams track passkey creation because it’s easy. But creation alone is misleading.
Better indicators include:
- percentage of eligible users who create a passkey
- percentage of sign-ins completed with passkeys
- repeat passkey usage within 30 days
- fallback rate after successful passkey creation
- completion rate for new-device recovery
- support ticket volume tied to login failures
If passkeys are created but rarely used, the issue is usually behavioral, not technical.
A simple adoption playbook
If your goal is to increase passkey usage without triggering backlash:
- prompt during motivated moments
- explain what the system prompt will do
- default to passkeys after the first success
- reinforce successful use with confirmation
- treat fallback as guided recovery, not escape
- design explicitly for new-device moments
- measure usage, not availability
Closing thought
Passkeys work best when users feel like they chose them.
The fastest way to stall adoption is to mandate behavior before trust is built. The fastest way to scale usage is to design flows that make passkeys feel like the obvious, safe, repeatable choice.
Organic adoption lasts longer than forced compliance.
Sources (for reference)
https://fidoalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Barometer-Report-2024-Oct-29.pdf
https://fidoalliance.org/passkey-adoption-doubles-in-2024-more-than-15-billion-online-accounts-can-leverage-passkeys/
https://blog.google/technology/safety-security/google-passkeys-update-april-2024/
https://fidoalliance.org/passkeys/
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