Soon, Google Chrome will offer biometric authentication for payment autofill
What's the story
After testing a new interface for autofill, Google appears to be working on a tweak for the widely used function — biometric authentication.
It is being developed for Chrome for Android with the goal of making accessing saved payment details faster and more secure than it is right now.
Here's all you need to know about it.
Feature
New flag on Chrome for Android
As reported by Android Police, a new hidden flag in Chrome for Android - chrome://flags/#enable-autofill-credit-card-authentication - can enable biometric authentication for autofill payments.
It brings a new Screen lock toggle in the Payment methods setting of Chrome, which, when enabled, uses the screen unlocking method, be it fingerprint or facial recognition, to automatically confirm and enter card information quickly and securely on a page.
Working
Not working as of now
While the option will make auto-filling card details more seamless, it must be noted that the feature does not work right now.
Regardless of the version of Chrome in use - Dev, Beta, Canary, or Stable, enabling the toggle and using the option does not get the screen lock authenticator to show up while auto-filling payment details, the report notes.
Launch
Hopefully, it will change and debut on more platforms
Clearly, the feature is in the works and will probably improve and start working in the coming weeks or months.
Also, according to the description of the flag, the screen lock authentication function will also become available on Chrome for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chrome OS — where the work is still in initial stages as of now.
Battery
Google is also testing a way to boost battery life
In addition to this, Google is also testing a way to disable JavaScript timers for background tabs and reduce the battery usage of Chrome.
During a test, with 36 background tabs and one blank foreground tab, the tweak increased the battery of notebook running Chrome by two hours or 28%.
In another case, a little over half an hour worth of gains were recorded.