Better built-in pass key support for Android applications is on the horizon. Credential Manager, a new Android-specific API for storing credentials, including username and password combinations and passkeys, will be live on November 1st, as Google revealed last week in a developer blog post. In Android phones, credential manager units federated identity login, conventional passwords, and biometric authentication of passkeys under one roof. It has been in development preview for months.
What are passkeys?
Using your device’s built-in authentication mechanisms, passkeys can take the place of conventional passwords. In this manner, all it takes to log into Gmail, PayPal, or iCloud is to enable Face ID on your iPhone, the fingerprint sensor on your Android phone, or Windows Hello on your computer. Passkeys are a relatively new technology, and the contexts in which they are supported are continually changing. Passkeys are exclusively stored locally by Chrome on Windows and macOS as of August 2023.
Credential Manager passkey support is available for Android applications. Passwords, identity federation, and passkeys are supported by the credential manager. Android 9 (API level 28) and later devices enable passkeys. Android 4.4 and later versions enable Google Sign-in and passwords. With Android 14, this modification ought to enable apps to provide enhanced authentication functionality.
Apps may ensure users have simple access using passkeys by utilizing Credential Manager. For a more seamless experience when utilizing Password as the default password manager rather than Google Password Manager, third-party password managers like that one will also be able to utilize the API. Developers will just need to utilize the Credential Manager to authenticate users going forward, since Google announced last week in another blog post that it is deprecating several authentication APIs. With any luck, this will simplify things considerably and increase the likelihood that third-party applications will utilize it, as Uber and WhatsApp have already done.
