Google has introduced selfie sign-ins for Google accounts, a facial recognition-based recovery option for users who lose access to their devices and cannot use email or phone-based recovery. Announced on Thursday, the feature is designed as a last-resort safety net as more people rely on passkeys and device-based authentication, which can leave them permanently locked out if they lose the device holding their passkey. Google says most users will still prefer passkeys for everyday sign-ins, reserving the selfie option for emergencies such as a lost or stolen phone.

To enrol, users record a video of their face, including turning their head side to side, via Google's help page for selfie video management; this movement is intended to defeat deepfakes, which reportedly struggle to replicate convincing side profiles in real time. If all other recovery methods fail, Google can request a fresh selfie video to compare against the enrolled one before restoring account access, though the company stresses this alone may not be enough and additional verification could be required. Unlike Apple's Face ID or Android's face unlock, which use infrared depth-mapping hardware for stronger security, Google's system relies on standard video and AI analysis, raising questions about its resilience to increasingly sophisticated deepfakes and concerns over Google holding a live recording of users' faces.