Google announced today a new feature in the recently released Chrome OS 88 that enables a faster sign-in experience with some websites. The new capability is courtesy of Google"s new Web Authentication (WebAuthn) feature that was rolled out to Android devices back in 2019.
The feature allows you to sign in to a website that supports WebAuthn without using the password you"ve created for that site. Instead, you can simply use the PIN or your fingerprint that you use to sign in to your Chromebook in order to log in to supported websites including Dropbox, GitHub, or Okta. You will also see a prompt asking you to enable WebAuthn the next time you sign in.
In addition, if you use two-step verification to log in, you can use your Chrome OS PIN or fingerprint as the second factor as well. That means you won"t need a security key or your smartphone for authentication.
Aside from the faster web sign-in experience, Chrome OS now lets you personalize your lock screen, too. You can use your Google Photos album or choose images from the art gallery as your screen saver. Additionally, your Chrome OS lock screen can display weather updates and music that"s currently playing, along with options to pause or skip songs directly from that screen. To personalize your screen saver, you can simply head over to your Chrome OS Settings menu and go to Personalization.