Google is known to annually organise its developer’s conference where it advertises its newest features. This year, the annual I/O keynote was held on Tuesday, May 18. Google unveiled a lot of new exciting features with user privacy at the center of focus.
Google announced an upgrade to its password manager with quite some features. Using one of these features, users will now have the ability to identify and change any compromised passwords with just a single tap. A ‘Change Password’ button from Assistant will assist users in identifying and changing passwords that may have been leaked in the past.
Google Explains the New Feature
Google explained the feature in one of its blog posts by saying that going forward; Chrome will help you change your passwords with a single tap on supported sites. While checking your password on these supported sites, Google can find a password that may have been compromised and show a “Change Password” button through Google Assistant. Once the user taps on that button, Chrome will navigate you to the site and go through the entire process of changing your password.
However, users will not use control over the process of changing passwords by the launch of this feature. They will still be allowed by Google to complete the whole process manually and be engaged in between. The passwords suggested by Google would be strong and unique passwords for a number of your various accounts.
It is commonly known that computer suggested passwords are extremely random, which often makes them complicated and difficult to remember. Thus, even though users can do the whole process manually and choose their own passwords, the new feature would definitely help by identifying the leaked passwords.
Other Privacy Related Features launched in Google I/O 2021
Other than the Change Password feature, Google unveiled some other features centred around Privacy. One of the features amongst them was the option ‘delete your last 15 minutes of search history’. Users will be able to do so with a single tap from the Google Account Menu.
Google Photos has been really helpful for finding long lost photos and pictures from years ago that were backed up in your google account. Google Photos will now have a locked folder, which would be a password-protected space to store selected photos separately. The photos stored in this locked folder won’t show up even as you scroll through your grid or in shared albums. This feature will first be seen in Google’s Pixel devices and then on other android devices throughout the year.
Google’s focus on user privacy is also an extension of features of its upcoming Android 12. Android 12 will include a Privacy Dashboard, which will display details like exact timelines when a particular app accesses your camera, microphone or device location. In addition to this, an indicator has also been added to alert users whenever an app is trying to use the phone’s camera or microphone. Users will now be able to easily toggle to disable access to the camera and microphone across your device.
