Chrome new identity check feature for Android will secure password autofill and other sensitive settings of your Android device.
This is an upcoming feature of Chrome which Google has prepared to add in Android smartphones to ensure that even if thieves know your lock screen PIN, pattern, or password, they still can’t unlock your apps.
What is Chrome’s new identity check feature for Android?
An upcoming feature of Google Chrome “identity check feature” for Android basically provides the device an extra level of security by forcing apps of the device to use your biometrics to unlock apps, even if those apps allow your lock screen PIN, pattern, or password alone, when the feature is enabled.
It is an Android’s version of Apple’s Stolen Device Protection which will protect the device and the media from being attacked by the thief.
But the question is if we already have the theft protection feature to protect our device from thief attack, then what’s the need of this new “identity feature”?
Also read: How to enable Theft Protection feature on Android phones
The answer is very simple, it is better to have as much security as we get for our devices. If ‘theft protection feature’ is enabled on your smartphone, the thief will not be able to unlock your phone. But if somehow the feature fails to lock your phone after it’s been stolen, or the thief knows your phone’s lock screen PIN, pattern, or password, your data and sensitive apps will not be secure anymore.
Here comes the role of an upcoming feature “identity check”, which demands for the biometry authentication to unlock the device or to unlock any app. If this feature is enabled in your device, then the possibility that thief will unlock the phone will be zero.
Which Android version will get this upcoming feature?
Most probably, the “identity check” feature will only be available on devices running the upcoming December 2024 release of Android 15, i.e. Android 15 QPR1.
It has not been officially confirmed by the Google about the feature and how the feature works has also not shared by Google but the new Google Chrome code that “enables android identity check for eligible features.” has been discovered by one of the Chrome tipster Leopeva64 that changes in the Chromium Gerrit tagged “idcheck” and soon Google might roll out a server-side update to the Google Play Services app that will add a new “mandatory biometric” setting.
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