Windows 11 Passkey (Windows Hello) Features [Oct 2024]

1. Introduction#

As advocates for passkey, we delve today into Microsofts newest strides within the passkey realm (login via Windows Hello instead of passwords). Microsoft, an influential member of the FIDO alliance the backbone behind the passkey and WebAuthn standards has long promised bolstered support for passkeys (besides their already available offering for many of their services like GitHub, Microsoft 365 or LinkedIn). Their recent Windows 11 developer preview gave us a chance to explore these claims in detail, and today, we're here to share these insights with you.

2. New Passkey Creation Experience#

Using Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23486, we encountered a refreshed user dialogue upon passkey creation. The prompt efficiently notifies users when a passkey is stored. Moreover, it highlights essential details, displaying the user ID (e.g., Vincent+windows11@corbado.com) alongside the relying party ID (e.g., passkeys.eu).

3. Windows 11 Passkey Management UI: A User-Friendly Evolution#

The challenge of managing passkeys on Windows machines is set to change. Previously, users resorted to external browsers like Google Chrome for passkey management tasks with a GUI, be it deletion or a simple overview of saved passkeys. Thankfully, the new Windows 11 preview comes with a user- friendly solution with its integrated passkey manager.

For those eager to try, here's how to delete a passkey (see also our detailed deletion guide):

1. Navigate to: Settings > Accounts > Passkeys and look for the website corresponding to the passkey.

2. Hit the three-dot menu of your chosen entry and select "Delete passkey."

3. A confirmation prompt will appear. Click "Delete" to finalize.

4. Windows Hello Synced Passkeys: The Awaited Feature#

While our exploration was insightful, one area remained untested: the synchronization of passkeys across (Windows) devices. The passkeys we trialed remained exclusive to individual devices (single-device passkeys). Its still unclear how Microsoft will approach this feature, especially given its successful implementation by Apple and Google in 2022 and further developments in 2023. Especially if a Windows account has Windows Hello already activated (for single-device passkeys), it remains interesting how the synchronization will work.

5. The Future of Passkeys with Windows 11#

The enhancements in Windows 11 are bound to amplify the adoption rate of passkeys, especially in the desktop and corporate domains where Windows remains dominant. As the OS captures more market share and with more individuals investing in new computers, passkeys' prevalence will surge.

For official details on this update, check out Microsoft's official announcement here and here.

6. Windows Evolution of Passkeys#

There's also a buzz around potential synced passkey support on Windows 10. While not universal, its introduction to a broad range of Windows 10 devices could further catalyze user adoption and demand for passkeys. At the moment, per Microsoft lifetime policy, the Windows 10 22H2 version from October 2022 is planned to be the last feature release for Windows 10 followed by two years of security support.

Backporting the synced passkey functionality from Windows 11 to Windows 10 seems to be a rather easy endeavor as insiders tell us. Maybe there will be an out-of-band release enabling synced passkeys (via Windows Hello), enhanced passkey management and Conditional UI before Windows 10s end of life in October 2025.

Still, the biggest question is when Windows Hello Sync will be introduced by Microsoft in general connecting created local passkeys with the cloud and making them truly cross-device like Apple (via iCloud Keychain) and Google (via Google Password Manager) did. At the moment, there is no hint within the official documentation, release notes or in the Microsoft Account when this might happen.

The measurement gap is concrete. The Corbado Passkey Benchmark 2026 passkey enrollment rate analysis reports Q1 2026 first-try web passkey enrollment at 25–39% on Windows versus 49–83% on iOS, 41–65% on macOS and 41–67% on Android across large-scale B2C deployments — the lowest first-try web band of any major platform. Closing that gap depends on Windows Hello gaining a Conditional Create path (classified as Constrained at a +12–18% add-on contribution in the Corbado Passkey Benchmark 2026 Conditional Create rate analysis) and on the synced-passkey workflow reaching parity with iCloud Keychain and Google Password Manager.

7. Windows 11 Synched Passkeys: Update October 2024#

After much anticipation, Microsoft has announced significant updates to passkey support in Windows 11, marking a major step forward in the journey toward a passwordless future:

• Introduction of Synced Passkeys to Microsoft Accounts: Users will be able to sync their passkeys across Windows 11 devices using their Microsoft accounts. Microsoft announced this for the Windows Insider channels "in the coming months".

• Third-Party Passkey Provider Support: Windows 11 now supports a plug-in model for third-party passkey providers like 1Password and Bitwarden. This allows for seamless integration and enables users to utilize passkeys created on mobile devices directly on Windows 11.

• Enhanced Native UX for Passkeys: A redesigned Windows Hello experience offers an intuitive interface for saving and managing passkeys. Users can protect their passkeys using facial recognition, fingerprint, or PIN. According to the announcement, synced passkeys are "secured by end-to-end encryption and protected with the device's TPM".

These updates are highly anticipated, and users are eagerly awaiting to see how this insider build will look and when it will be released to production.

8. Windows Synced Passkeys: Update November 2025#

Synced passkeys reached production on 3 November 2025, but through Microsoft Password Manager in Edge 142 rather than as a Windows Hello feature:

• Availability: Windows 10 and above, personal Microsoft accounts only. Microsoft Entra work accounts and mobile devices were not supported at launch.
• Protection: passkeys are "stored securely in the cloud in an encrypted format" and protected by a Microsoft Password Manager PIN with a maximum of 10 attempts on a new device.
• Architecture: passkey operations run in Azure confidential computing and the keys sit in Azure Managed HSM, as described in Microsoft's engineering post. More details: How is the private key of a passkey synced?

Windows Hello passkeys themselves stay device-bound.

9. How Corbado can help#

The table in section 6 tracks what each Windows release can do. For your own login the question is narrower: which of those releases are your users actually on, and does Windows Hello answer when your site asks. Windows 10 and Windows 11 both report Windows NT 10.0 in the user agent, so a raw log cannot tell them apart. Corbado Observe, the authentication observability layer, reads the high-entropy client hints instead and resolves the platform version, which turns this article's feature matrix into a reading of your own traffic.

• Which Windows your users run. Technology splits login flows by platform and, inside the Windows panel, by exact platform version and browser family. Whatever share is still on Windows 10 is the share for which everything in section 7 does not exist yet.
• Whether Windows Hello answers. Client Capabilities charts six WebAuthn signals as a share of web login sessions over time, among them userVerifyingPlatformAuthenticator, conditionalGet, conditionalCreate and hybridTransport, and the chart filters by operating system. Filtered to Windows it separates "Windows 11 supports this" from "our Windows users report it".
• What the laggards cost you. Adoption Forecast projects a rollout from two measured inputs, your OS mix and how often those devices report a local platform authenticator, both read off the technology and client-capabilities series and both left editable. Everything else it needs, total users, average logins, the skew across them and how hard you intend to ask, you type in. If Windows carries a large share of your logins at low local availability, that shows in the measured half before you commit to a rollout date.

See Adoption Forecast in Corbado Observe →

About Corbado

Corbado is the Passkey Intelligence Platform for large-scale CIAM teams running consumer authentication. We help you see what IDP logs and generic analytics tools can't: where passkeys, passwords, OTP, social login and fallback journeys succeed, stall or fail, which devices and browsers create friction, and when an OS update silently breaks login. Two products: Corbado Observe layers process mining and observability across authentication journeys. Corbado Connect adds managed passkeys with analytics built in alongside your IDP. VicRoads runs passkeys for 5M+ users with Corbado (more than 80% passkey activation rate). Talk to a Passkey Expert →

Frequently Asked Questions#

How do I delete a passkey on Windows 11?#

Windows 11 includes a native passkey manager accessible via Settings > Accounts > Passkeys. Select the three-dot menu next to the relevant entry, choose 'Delete passkey' and confirm the deletion in the prompt that appears.

Can I use passkeys from my iPhone or Android phone on a Windows 11 PC?#

Yes. Windows 11 23H2 supports hybrid authentication via Windows Hello using Bluetooth, allowing passkeys stored on iOS or Android devices to authenticate directly on Windows 11. Earlier Windows versions required Chrome or Edge to enable this cross-device flow.

Does Windows 11 now sync passkeys across multiple devices the way Apple and Google do?#

Yes, since November 2025. Microsoft announced synced passkeys for Microsoft accounts in October 2024 and shipped them with Microsoft Password Manager in Edge 142. Passkeys sync across Windows devices signed in with a personal Microsoft account and are protected by a Microsoft Password Manager PIN with a maximum of 10 attempts. Microsoft Entra work accounts and mobile devices were not supported at launch.

Will Windows 10 ever get synced passkey support before it reaches end of life?#

Yes. Passkey syncing with Microsoft Password Manager, introduced in Edge 142 in November 2025, works on Windows 10 and above with a personal Microsoft account. Windows 10 22H2 is the last feature release, with security support that ended in October 2025.