If you’ve been using Chrome for some time now, you know that its autofill feature is one of the most convenient things to have. You don’t have to worry about filling up forms or remembering usernames/passwords for various websites and services that you sign up for. Google is now bringing you an even more convenient and secure way for autofill. Soon you will be able to use biometrics for your credit card information and you’ll also get to use touch-to-fill features for your passwords.
Some users have saved their credit card credentials to their Google accounts in order to make it more convenient to make online payments. However, you still have to take out your card (or if you’ve memorized it) and enter your CVC to finalize the payment, which is understandable for security purposes. Now, Chrome will let you to enroll your device and retrieve card numbers through biometric authentication.
When you enroll your card or device, you will just have to enter your CVC the first time and afterward, it will be biometrics. This includes fingerprint, face recognition, iris recognition, etc. Biometric information is of course device-based and Chrome uses W3C standard WebAuthn. You still have the option to just choose to enter your CVC for transactions so you can turn biometric authentication on and off anytime you want.
Chrome also has a password manager that makes it easier for you to sign in to websites and services. You now get a new touch-to-fill feature where you will see all your saved accounts for that website “in a convenient and recognizable dialogue”. This way, you don’t have to tap into individual form fields when signing in and you can just use one finger to sign in. This will be available to Chrome on Android in the next few weeks.
Some might find these new features scary instead of convenient. But at least with biometric authentication, it is much more secure to make your online payments and even if you lose your device, they won’t be able to use your credit card details. Google says they will continue to develop safe and convenient ways to sign in and pay when you’re using their browser.
