Yahoo Mail takes on Gmail with password-free email access

When it comes to an email account, there is one hard thing to remember -- the password. But Yahoo is all set to eliminate passwords from its Mail service to give you advanced email access and of course, to take on Gmail.

Yahoo has announced Account Key as its new feature to let you easily sign in to your email account without using a password. This is considered to be a major competitive step by the internet giant as even some complex password combinations are simple to hack compared to other encryption technologies and tools like software keyloggers often track passwords on shared systems.

Unlike using passwords to access an email account, Yahoo Account Key enables you to access the Yahoo Mail account simply by using your mobile device. You just need to enter your user name on Yahoo Mail's login page on your PC and then a simple tap on the notification on your smartphone will provide you the access to your mail. The notification also provides you details about which web browser you are using to access your email account and at which time. This makes it easy to track any hacking instance.

You can also disable the feature if you don't want your mobile device to be the key to your email account by entering your password on the login page. Likewise, the company is offering a backup feature that lets you sign in even if your mobile phone is not active or lost; the password can also be sent to your phone number or an alternate email account.

"Account Key streamlines the sign-in process with a secure, elegant and easy-to-use interface that makes access as easy as tapping a button," Dylan Casey, vice president of product management said in a blog post, adding, "It's also more secure than a traditional password because once you activate Account Key – even if someone gets access to your account info – they can't sign in."

Yahoo's attempt at password-free email access comes as a step further to its earlier move with the on-demand passwords feature that lets you sign into your email account using an SMS code on your mobile device, instead of using a complicated password. The new development is also an advancement over the two-step authentication that services like Gmail and Twitter started adopting in the past.

Updated Yahoo Mail app

To use the newly announced Account Key feature, you must have installed the new version of the Yahoo Mail app that is available for iOS and is rolling out to Android. The new app has multiple mailbox management to let you manage your email accounts from Outlook, Hotmail and AOL Mail directly on your Yahoo Mail app. In addition, there is a faster and improved user experience.

Apart from the new Yahoo Mail app, the company says that the new password-free email access will be available through other Yahoo apps by the end of the year.