Web based email for elderly relatives - passkeys?

5 replies

StripedPillowcase · 08/10/2026 09:24

My elderly relatives are changing their ISP (related to the copper/fibre landline issue, which I think (cross fingers) we've got sorted).

Their old ISP is a very legacy one, now completely unsuitable for non-techy consumers, their business is very much directed to the corporate market, and they have quoted huge monthly fees and a big one-off 'set-up' fee to change to fibre. Plus I wouldn't trust them with the relatives' landline after they mishandled a broadband outage last year.

I thought I had everything sorted, and had set them up a new outlook.com email address, with my own email address as a back-up if they forget the password. I wanted to add their mobile number for sending a 2-factor code for logging in, but outlook no longer use mobile numbers for this - you can't add one to the account.

You can log in to outlook.com with your password, but it's non-intuitive - the default is a code sent to my email address.

I've never set up passkeys on my own accounts - can anyone recommend this for elderly relatives - does using a passkey make life easier?

Or any recommendations for web based email that your relatives use and find easy to navigate, would be helpful?

Many thanks!

OP posts:

TryTSafe · Today 10:26

Passkeys can make life easier for a relative who struggles with passwords, because they sign in with the fingerprint, face or PIN they already use to unlock their phone, so there is nothing to remember or mistype. The catches are that it only runs smoothly if they use the same device each time and know that phone PIN by heart, and a lost or replaced phone needs a recovery plan. You have already made yourself the recovery contact, which is the right idea; also keep a paper card in a drawer headed 'how I log in', in their own words, so a new phone or an ISP change is not a crisis. On web email versus an app, many older people cope better with the plain mail app on their phone or tablet than with a website, whatever the provider, because there is less to click through. Whichever you choose, test the whole sign-in on their own device while you are with them, including the 'forgot password' route.

NotSoLittle · 09/10/2026 16:38

Aunt uses gmx.com and AFAIK they don't ask for a passkey. She's a very low user though.
I don't know if the following do or not but you could have a look:
mail.google.com
mail.yahoo.com
proton.me/mail

Original poster

StripedPillowcase · 09/10/2026 16:18

Bump?

OP posts:

Original poster

StripedPillowcase · 08/10/2026 12:11

It's access through a laptop - they can't cope with a smart phone or tablet

OP posts:

FlatCatYellowMat · 08/10/2026 09:41

Are they accessing through a computer? Or a phone?

Yes, passkeys make it a lot easier - eg. on my laptop I just log into my email with a fingerprint (mac) or on my phone it just magically works.

BUT, it is tied to a device - I spent ages trying to get into one account, only to realise that I'd set up the passkey on my laptop, not my desktop and that's why I was struggling.

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