Third-party password manager users in Android could soon have a much smoother time, as the autofill experience on Google's mobile platform is set to get a lot easier to use.
An X user drew attention to a new setting available in developer builds of the Chrome browser for Android, which lets users choose which password manager they have installed to use for filling out web forms.
This new setting is part of the "field trials" for Chrome Dev, a chance for Google to try out new features before a full generally available release. The feature means that the Google Password Manager will no longer be the only default option for autofill functionality in the Chrome app on Android devices.
Dismissing the Google Password Manager
The latest versions of Android already lets users set their main, default password manager in the device's system settings, but despite this, the Chrome app will default to the Google Password Manager for autofill purposes. This means a pop-up will appear when you visit a site's login page with whom you have saved credentials, virtually taking over the entire screen.
It has actually been possible for a while to use a third-party password manager to autofill credentials in Chrome on Android, but to do so requires the keyboard to be visible, as the autofill option for other password managers is located just above the top row of keys. So users who fell into this camp would have to dismiss the pop-up from the Google Password Manager before getting to use their preferred manager - obviously, quite the annoyance.
But now, with the Chrome Dev build, its seems that users now have an option to change the default password manager for autofilling to one of their choice, as there is now a section under "autofill options" called "use other providers." However, as 9to5 Google points out, this feature has not been extensively tested yet, so we can't be certain how well it works in practice.
This appears to be another instance of Google relenting to better integration of third-party password managers within its ecosystem. With the recent release of Android 14, passkeys - the passwordless alternative to passwords - can now be created, stored, and used by password managers other than Google's own.
