Google Chrome for Android tests a faster way to sign in on websites
Google is slowly ramping up its effort in the password management department. The company’s browser has always offered a simple and quick solution for storing and auto-filling passwords, but it has always lagged behind competitors who offerfully-featured cross-platform password managers. The company is getting there, though. The latest tweak in line makes logging in after autofilling much faster by eliminating an extra tap.
As spotted by Android Police founder Artem Russakovskii, the reworked login flow looks and feels almost like the old one, with one key difference. Once you confirm that you want to log in with the credentials displayed by Chrome, the process continues automatically. You don’t have to tap any “login” or “confirm” buttons afterwards.
This new login process is enabled automatically for a few lucky people, but you can activate thechrome://flags/#touch-to-fill-password-submissionflag to make use of it without waiting for Google to flip a switch on its servers.
Compared to other password managers like Bitwarden that rely on the autofill framework provided by Android, this might be the most comfortable way to log in just yet, all without you having to remember your passwords. The only downside we’ve spotted is that you need to remember to check buttons like “keep me logged in” before you use the new autofill functionality.
It’s likely that Google only views this option as a stop-gap solution to its ultimate goal ofcreating a password-free future. Instead of passwords, Google wants you to rely on cryptographically signed passkeys, stored on a secure chip on your phone and backed up safely in the cloud. The concept isn’t too different from a password saved to a password manager, only that you don’t ever have to worry about remembering or seeing the password yourself.
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