Passwords have been the “keys” to our online accounts for decades, but Yahoo is now offering users the option to log into their Yahoo accounts without having to remember one.
The new security feature is called “On-demand passwords” and once you have it set up it works like this:
1 – On the Yahoo login page you’ll see a brand new button labeled “Send my password“. Click that button and Yahoo will send you a one-time computer-generated 4-character password.
2 – Enter the password contained in the text message into a box on the login page and Yahoo will let you into your account. Pretty neat, huh?
As you have probably already figured out, Yahoo’s “On-demand passwords” feature works almost exactly like the now-popular “Two-Factor Authentication” feature. The only difference is you’ll no longer have to first enter your regular password on the login page. You can skip that step entirely and enter the single 4-digit password that Yahoo texts to you.
As I see it, this option for logging in to Yahoo offers one huge advantage AND one huge disadvantage:
- The advantage is once you have “On-demand passwords” enabled you’ll never have to remember a password again for gaining access to your Yahoo account.
- The disadvantage is if your phone is ever stolen the thief will be able to use it to log into any and all of your Yahoo services. You can eliminate that disadvantage however by enabling the new security features that are being built into many new phones that are designed to prevent thieves from being able to unlock and use the phone if it is ever stolen.
If you like the idea of never having to remember another Yahoo password, you can enable “On-demand passwords” on your Yahoo account by following these steps:
1 – Log in to your Yahoo account using your current username and password.
2 – Click the My Yahoo link located in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
3 – Hover you mouse over the “gear” shaped Settings icon located in the top right corner of the page, then select Account Info from the drop-down menu.
4 – Click the Account security link located in the left-hand column.
5 – Find the “On-demand passwords” section and click the Get started link. A box will pop up containing an explanation of how the “On-demand passwords” feature works.
6 – Click the Set up on-demand passwords link.
7 – If you already have a mobile phone registered with your Yahoo account you’ll be asked to verify the number by clicking the Send SMS button. If you don’t have a number already registered with your account, you’ll be asked to enter one and then verify it by clicking the Send SMS button.
Either way, after you click Send SMS Yahoo will text you a code to enter into a verification box on the screen. After you receive that text message, enter the 5-digit code from the message into the verification box and click the Submit code button.
8 – You’ll now be given the opportunity to enable an account recovery method for those times when you might need to access your Yahoo account but you don’t have your phone handy.
That’s all there is to it. From now on you’ll be able to log into your Yahoo account without having to remember a password ever again! Even better, you can use the procedure above to enable “On-demand passwords” for any other Yahoo accounts that you might have (and you can use the same phone for every account).