> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.adspirer.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Google Asks for a Passkey When Connecting Google Ads

> Google requires a passkey to authorize new Google Ads API access. What the passkey screen means, why a new passkey takes up to 7 days, and how to get connected.

# Google asks for a passkey when I connect Google Ads

When you connect Google Ads to Adspirer, Google may ask you for a **passkey**
before it returns you to the account picker. That screen comes from Google, not
from Adspirer.

Since **5 August 2026**, Google requires a passkey to authorize new Google Ads
API access. Every tool that works with the Google Ads API is covered by this —
Google Ads Editor, Google Ads scripts, BigQuery Data Transfer Service, and
Adspirer. A password, an SMS code, or an authenticator app is no longer enough
on its own.

<Note>
  **Already connected? Nothing changes for you.** Google only applies this when
  new API access is authorized. An existing Adspirer connection keeps working and
  will not ask you for anything — unless you disconnect and reconnect.
</Note>

## Find your screen below

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="&#x22;Try again in 6 days&#x22; or a security delay">
    You created a passkey, and Google holds a **brand-new passkey for up to 7 days**
    before it will accept it. This is a Google security measure. Nothing shortens
    it — not Adspirer, and not Google's own support.

    Your options:

    * **Use an older passkey.** If the same Google account already had a passkey
      before this one, it works today.
    * **Use a device that already signs you in.** A phone or laptop that Google
      already trusts for this account will usually get you through.
    * **Wait it out.** The connection works normally once the delay passes. Come
      back to [Connections](https://adspirer.ai/connections) and connect Google Ads
      again.

    In the meantime, Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn connect with no passkey step, and
    the rest of Adspirer works as usual.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="&#x22;We couldn't find a passkey&#x22; or &#x22;your existing passkeys aren't compatible with this device&#x22;">
    Your Google account has a passkey, but not one this device can use. Try these
    in order — most people are connected by the second one.

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Open an incognito or private window">
        Sign in there and connect again. Google stops offering a stored passkey it
        cannot use, and falls back to a method that works. This is the fix that
        resolves it most often.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Choose &#x22;Try another way&#x22;">
        On Google's passkey screen, this lets you pick a different method or
        another device — for example approving on your phone instead.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Add a passkey on the device you're actually using">
        Go to [Google's passkey settings](https://myaccount.google.com/signinoptions/passkeys)
        and create one there. Note that a brand-new passkey carries the up-to-7-day
        delay described above.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I don't have a passkey, or I don't want to create one">
    To authorize new Google Ads API access you now need one. There is no
    password-only path any more, for any tool.

    It is a smaller change than it sounds:

    * Setting one up takes about a minute, at [g.co/passkeys](https://g.co/passkeys).
    * It does **not** change your Google password, and it does **not** change
      anything in your Google Ads account or settings.
    * A passkey can be your phone's screen lock, your laptop's fingerprint reader
      or Windows Hello, or a hardware security key. You do not need a working
      fingerprint sensor specifically — a PIN or screen lock is enough.

    Google's own guide: [Use a passkey with Google Ads](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/16968810).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My work or school account won't allow passkeys">
    Some Google Workspace organizations block passkey sign-in. If that is your
    account, the passkey screen is a dead end until your administrator changes it.

    Two ways forward:

    * **Ask your Google Workspace admin** to allow passkeys or security keys for
      your account.
    * **Connect with a different Google login.** Add a personal Google account as a
      user on the Google Ads account in Google Ads, then connect that login to
      Adspirer instead. This usually gets you running the same day.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The passkey worked, but Adspirer still didn't connect">
    If Google accepted your passkey and told you that you were all set, but
    Adspirer never showed the account picker, try once more in an **incognito
    window with browser extensions turned off**.

    If it still doesn't complete, that one is worth reporting — contact us from the
    in-app chat and say that the passkey succeeded but the connection did not land,
    and we'll look at it.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## What Adspirer cannot do

We are asked this often, so to be direct: Adspirer cannot turn the passkey
requirement off, skip it, or get you an exception. The check happens inside your
Google account, before Google hands anything to us — we never see the attempt.
It is identical on every Adspirer plan, so upgrading does not change it either.

## Related

* [Google Ads integration](/docs/ad-platforms/google-ads)
* [Support](/docs/knowledge-base/support)