Microsoft is not planning to roll out an update that will keep you automatically logged into your accounts after all. Earlier reporting seemed to be a mistake.
Microsoft sowed confusion a few weeks ago with an Outlook notification that reported you would stay automatically logged into your account starting in February. It is backtracking on that. It reports via The Verge that, at least for now, nothing is changing in the Microsoft account sign-in process. Microsoft is reaching out and saying the communication was a mistake.
“There will be no changes to Microsoft users’ sign-in experiences for commercial accounts and consumers,” Microsoft confirmed in a statement to The Verge. “Previous reports were based on incomplete information falsely published by a Microsoft product team. The incorrect reports have been removed.” The blog describing the changes, which was thus “accidentally” posted, has been removed along with it.
Risky
The change could have posed some risks. On a public computer, for example, one should remember to effectively log themselves off. To reduce that risk, it is best for users to surf incognito. Currently, users are always asked if they want to stay logged in. If it did get forgotten, Microsoft has provided the option to log off the account on all browsers and apps where it is used.
Whether this means the changes are off the table for good remains to be seen. Microsoft has been scrutinizing the login process for some time. Among other things, the tech giant is pushing for passkey support.
This is a more secure option than traditional passwords or multi factor authentication, which is embraced by many large tech companies. For now, however, the option is not yet popular with the masses. This is due to the tangle of ecosystems from the likes of Google and Microsoft. Each company tries to incorporate passkeys into its ecosystem, but that makes it very confusing for the end user.
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This article originally appeared on Jan. 22 and has been updated with the latest information.