Signing users in
You can use GOV.UK One Login to help your users sign into your service quickly and easily. This is also called ‘authentication’.
This means you know it’s always the same person accessing the service.
The user experience
You can let users create their GOV.UK One Login or sign in at:
- the start of your service, if you need them all to have accounts
- the point where they want to save their progress and come back later, if you want to add this option to a complex journey
Users create a GOV.UK One Login with their email address and password. They must also set up two-factor authentication (2FA) before they can use their GOV.UK One Login to sign in to a service.
Users set up 2FA using one of 2 methods:
- getting text messages containing security codes sent to their UK mobile phone number
- using security codes generated by an authenticator app
By default, users must provide 2FA every time they sign in to your service. If your service does not need to prove a user’s identity, you can choose not to enforce 2FA at sign-in. If your service needs to prove identity, 2FA is mandatory.
Passkeys
Users can sign in with a passkey instead of a password and 2FA. A passkey uses something on their device, such as a fingerprint, face scan or PIN, so they do not need to remember or type anything.
After they create their account, users can add a passkey from their account settings. If they have not set up a passkey, they are periodically prompted to set one up when they sign in to GOV.UK One Login. You do not need to change how your service handles sign-in to support passkeys.
Recovery
If a user forgets their password, they can reset it.
If a user loses access to their phone number or authenticator app, they can use a back-up method if they’ve set one up. If they have not, they’ll need to prove their identity again to regain access to their account.
If a user loses access to both their password and every way of providing 2FA, they will need to contact our support team.
When a user creates a GOV.UK One Login, they’ll also get access to a space where they can manage their details and see the services they’ve used. Find out more about what’s available in a user’s GOV.UK One Login when they’re signed in.