As the saying goes by ‘Safety begins at home,’ Google seems to have taken it seriously. News comes in that the password sharing between Google account holders of the same family appears to be functional in beta after some tinkering, as reported by Android tipster AssembleDebug of TheSpAndroid.
With this new feature, you can now securely share your passwords with your family group in Google Password Manager. By enabling flags in the latest Google Play Services beta version 24.13.14, the code sleuth was able to take a closer look at how the feature will function when it formally rolls out.
Share your password with your family
The new function seems to be announced as part of Safer Internet Day which focused on some important Family Link capabilities. Android Authority reports that currently the password sharing ability appears in the Google Password Manager on mobile with Google Play Services v24.20.
Once you’ve selected your saved credentials, a share button wll appear which can be tapped. After you tap, a share sheet opens with the names of your other household members, along with their profile images. You can then select who you want to share your password with, and then tap on the share button to send it along.
“With this new feature, you can now securely share your passwords with your family group in Google Password Manager. When you share a password, your family members will receive a copy of it in their Google Password Manager, ready to be used,” Google explained.
The new feature is expected to work with websites and applications if you have the login details saved in your existing Password Manager account. However, at present the option is missing from the desktop version of Chrome.
A manageable safety ahead
The new feature of password sharing through Google Password Manager is limited to “accounts that are part of a family group” which makes this feature safer than a generic sharing function.
Furthermore, Google highlights a few examples that the new feature has the potential to be useful including a “child letting a parent access school assignments” or “coordinating daycare through a single account.”
Currently, the Google Password Manager is expected to be rolling out a Material You redesign. Critics argued that it’s not clear if both changes will be available to everyone simultaneously.
Follow FE Tech Bytes on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook