The new tools allow for speedier searching of archived content in the Yahoo Mail application on Apple and Android devices, and automatically suggest after just one or two typed letters the most likely recipients of an email a user is composing. While traditional mail clients typically only fetch what's locally on the device or the top 100 or so messages on the server, Yahoo Mail will search your entire inbox even from months or years ago. "We think we have the most advanced search in a mobile mail client," said Fernando Delgado, a Yahoo senior director of product management. Other improvements include a new feature for so-called "me-mailers" -- the roughly 20 percent of Yahoo users who frequently send emails to themselves with to-do lists or other notes -- that helps them create a notebook of their files. The online company today announced a revamped version of its Yahoo Mail app for iOS and Android, allowing users to log into their email accounts securely and without ever having to remember a password or enter one to gain access.
– Yahoo Mail is turning 18, and it's marking the occasion with a big move: no more passwords. The company announced Thursday it's dumping what one Gartner security analyst calls the "antiquated" process of punching in a password to access messages and replacing it with a push notification sent to a user's mobile device, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Once the user gets the notification, he or she taps once to gain entry to the Yahoo Mail inbox, ABC News notes. "Passwords are usually simple to hack and easy to forget," Dylan Casey, Yahoo VP of product management, writes in a blog post describing the new "Account Key" feature. "Account Key streamlines the sign-in process … [and is] more secure than a traditional password because once you activate Account Key—even if someone gets access to your account info—they can't sign in." The optional authentication method is part of a broader revamp of Yahoo Mail, which includes faster search options of archived mail on Apple and Android devices, an email "umbrella" that allows users to access other email accounts (though not Gmail), and an organizational option for "me-mailers," or people who send themselves reminders via email, per the Mercury News. Some experts, however, feel longtime users may be freaked out without their passwords. "Consumers actually like them," the Gartner analyst tells the Mercury News, though he concedes people often forget their passwords, create weak ones, or use the same one across many accounts, setting them up for hacking. For those who feel the new authentication system isn't secure enough, Casey says it may someday use fingerprints and face recognition for an added layer of protection, Engadget notes.