Microsoft say it now supports password-less logins via its Microsoft Authenticator app for Azure Active Directory-connected apps
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the enterprise chapter of a passwordless arc Microsoft has been building since it first offered phone authentication instead of passwords for consumer accounts in 2017. What changes here is the scope: Authenticator-based sign-in now covers apps connected to Azure Active Directory, meaning the move targets corporate tenants and their admins rather than individual Microsoft accounts.
Two months later Microsoft extended the same logic to hardware with FIDO2 security key support on Windows 10, and by 2021 it was letting users delete passwords entirely while reporting hundreds of millions already using passwordless methods — a trajectory that ends with new accounts being passwordless by default. This 2018 announcement is the point where that strategy crossed from consumer convenience into enterprise identity.
First-order effects
- IT administrators running Azure Active Directory tenants can now offer employees app-based approval instead of passwords for the apps connected to their directory, making Authenticator a credential for corporate SSO, not just personal account access.
Second-order effects
- Enterprises evaluating identity providers now see Microsoft bundling passwordless authentication natively into its directory, raising the bar for what buyers expect from any competing identity or single-sign-on product.
Third-order effects
- If adoption follows the pattern the coverage shows — FIDO2 keys, full password removal, then passwordless-by-default signups — the industry default shifts from passwords being mandatory to passwords being opt-in legacy, with directories and authenticator apps becoming the primary credential infrastructure.
The trend: Authentication is migrating from shared secrets typed by users to device-bound approvals verified by platforms, with Microsoft moving its enterprise directory ahead of the default flip.