In the battle between Google’s Password Manager and dedicated services offered by 1Password and Bitwarden, third-party options easily come out on top.
Google is looking to change that, however, and the company’s opening salvo is a major update to its built-in password manager. This update brings many improvements to the service, including grouping multiple passwords for the same sites or apps together in one field.
There has also been a spate of improvements to the Android version of the password manager, as it now looks and feels the same as its Chrome-based counterpart, and settings automatically transfer between the two. Android users can even access the manager with a single tap on the home screen, thanks to a new shortcut.
The service will now flag weak and re-used passwords on Android devices, letting users know and allowing them to quickly fix the issues. This Password Checkup feature is also available for Chrome users on Chrome OS, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Additionally, Google’s service lets users manually add passwords to the manager and save passwords when logging into various accounts. The company is also adding a touch-to-login feature that leverages biometric verification. For now, this will only be available to Android users and appears as an overlay on the bottom of the device’s screen.
For iOS users, the company added the ability to set Chrome as the autofill provider, making it easier for Google Password Manager users to sign into apps on iPhones and iPads.
Google credits the Google Safety Engineering Center (GSEC), a collection of privacy and security experts based in Germany, for these innovations. They also say that more improvements will roll out in the coming months.
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