SAN FRANCISCO >> Yahoo is trying to phase out passwords with an update to its mobile application for its email service.

The renovated app released last week for iPhones and Android devices includes an option called “Account Key” that allows people to sign into their email accounts by pressing on a notification sent to their smartphones instead of typing in a password.

Yahoo  says the new feature will be more secure because most people rely on passwords that are easy for hackers to guess. Yahoo’s email users can still continue to type in a password if they prefer.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., company wants to change the way Internet security works because Yahoo “is synonymous with the Internet in many countries,” said Jeff Bonforte, the company’s senior vice president of communication products. “We always feel a burden of consumer protection.”

Although Yahoo email remains among the world’s most popular, it has been eclipsed in recent years by Google’s Gmail.

The updated app also will make it possible to connect Yahoo email with competing services from Outlook.com, Hotmail and AOL. The company hopes to make the app work with Gmail eventually, though it isn’t giving a timetable for making it happen.