Passwords can be a pain to keep track of and enter, and while password managers can help to alleviate the issue, they can require more steps than some folks would like and they also require you to install third-party apps. Google is looking to alleviate all of the annoyances of passwords with a new login method.
Reddit user Rohit, aka rp1226, was recently invited to try out a new way of signing in to his Google account. This method allows you to sign in using your email and then authenticating using your phone. The way that it works is, after enrolling to use the feature, you simply type your email into your login box. You’ll then get a message on your phone asking “Are you trying to sign in from another computer?” Then you just type “Yes,” and you’re in.
Google notes that if you enroll to this new login method, you can still use a password to sign in to your account, which you might need to do if your phone dies or isn’t nearby. You can also easily edit the phone that’s tied to logging you in by going into the “Sign in and Security” section of the My Account menu. Finally, Google says that if it ever thinks that something suspicious is going on when you’re trying to sign in, it’ll throw an extra step or two so that it can be sure that it’s really you that’s signing in.
It’s unclear exactly how long this testing will go on or how you can get into it. So for now you’ll just have to hope that Google’s invite email pops into your inbox.
This new login method sounds pretty interesting. As I said before, passwords can be a pain to enter, and password managers can make things easier but they typically require you to install a third-party app and store your passwords in there. Google’s new method can speed things up by just requiring you to type in your email, which you can probably do pretty quickly, then just tap “Yes” on your phone that’s probably right next to you. The good news is that Google has thought ahead and lets you use your password if your phone isn’t nearby. The bad news? No one knows when or if more folks will get to try this feature.
Would you use this new login method if Google invited you to do so?