Facebook launches Account Kit, a tool that lets you sign in to apps without passwords

Facebook today announced the launch of Account Kit, a piece of new software third-party developers can add to apps that will let end users sign in with just an email or a phone number — no passwords necessary.

Once app users enter their phone number or email address, the service will send them a code to type in — and voila, they’re in.

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“People hate passwords,” Facebook product manager Eddie O’Neil told VentureBeat in an email. That means this technology could be more compelling to end users than the traditional Facebook Login system, which demands that people type in their email address and password. That’s not a bad option — Facebook says it’s the No. 1 sign-on service in the world, with 300 million users per month — but now Facebook is getting more modern.

The result of this is that people building on top of the Facebook technology could be more inclined to start using apps and keep coming back. For example, Facebook is pointing to a music app called Saavn, which got a 33 percent bump in new sign-ups — more than half a million — after using Account Kit’s phone number system for two months.

Google and Twitter, among others, have their own login systems.

Account Kit is a bit reminiscent of Slack’s “magic sign-in link” that lets you tell the Slack mobile app to send you an email with a button you can tap to log you in on the Slack app without entering a password. But before you can do that, you need to have a Slack account — with a password — in the first place. Facebook’s Account Kit is different in that sense.

You can learn more about Account Kit here.