This weekend, Microsoft will start turning off password management functionality in its Authenticator app. If you use the app, from June 1, 2025, you will no longer be able to save new passwords. In July, autofill will stop working and a month later, saved passwords will no longer be accessible.
Microsoft is phasing out the password management and autofill features of its Authenticator app to consolidate them within the Microsoft Edge browser. This change is akin to what Google did with Chrome.
The phase-out won’t happen overnight. But if you miss the deadlines, this shift will create some inconveniences and cause authentication problems. That’s why now might be a good time to start looking for solutions. The phase-out timeline is as follows:
- From June 2025, you will no longer be able to save new passwords in Authenticator.
- From July 2025, the autofill function will stop working.
- From August 2025, your saved passwords will no longer be accessible in Authenticator.
Those who wish to continue using their passwords, logins, and other saved data after August 2025 will need to separately install Edge on their smartphones or other devices.
Also, starting July 2025, all credit card details and payment information will be removed from Authenticator. According to Microsoft, payment details won’t transfer automatically to Edge or other services, so you’ll need to re-enter your information manually. It doesn’t matter whether you choose Edge or a dedicated password manager solution.
Microsoft’s announcement about moving password management functionality to the Edge browser has sparked a debate online – is this move justified, and will it work? On Reddit and other social platforms, IT industry professionals who work with Microsoft infrastructure and tools seem to agree that the tech giant is making storing and syncing passwords across different devices less complicated.
However, most also agree that it does feel like Microsoft is pushing its Edge browser, which now holds around 5.2% of the global market (all platforms). In comparison, Google’s Chrome browser has around 66.2% of the market.
Some analysts suggest that this move could prompt users to re-evaluate their overall password management strategy, potentially leading them to explore other solutions, especially since dedicated password managers typically offer strong encryption and are not tied to a specific browser or ecosystem.
“Microsoft’s decision to phase out password management from Authenticator represents a significant shift in the company’s approach to digital security,” said NordPass Business Product Head Karolis Arbaciauskas. “It seems like Microsoft is simplifying credential management across different devices and bringing password management logic closer to the market-dominant model, which is already familiar to many users. In addition, the company has a chance to increase the popularity of its browser.”
“In theory, it’s a win-win situation,” he adds. “But people have various personal likes and dislikes, are often used to a particular ecosystem or a browser and may not wish to move. In that case, a dedicated password management solution might be a good idea since it can provide cross-platform synchronization across multiple browsers and devices, secure storage for credentials, and features like breach monitoring and encrypted sharing,”
If you don’t want to use Edge, you can export your passwords to a different service by heading to Authenticator > “Settings”> “Export passwords”> “Export” and then importing the saved file to the password manager of your choice.
