Google is making it easier for users to use and save credentials on their Google accounts in Chrome, even if they choose not to use Chrome"s sync service. The company has announced new features making their way to Android and desktop versions of the browser that let users access information on their Google account more easily.
Starting with Android, it will soon be possible to sign into websites using login information saved to your Google account, so if you have one linked to your phone, you can use it to log in without syncing that information through Chrome. You"ll also soon be able to use payment methods stored in your Google account to make payments on the web with Chrome, using biometric authentication or the CVC from your credit card to confirm the purchase. This feature rolled out to Chrome on desktop last year.
Over on the desktop side of things, password management is also getting an improvement. When you sign into an account on a website, you"ll be prompted to either save that password on that device or to your Google account, making it accessible everywhere. Again, this will work without turning on Chrome"s sync feature, if for some reason that"s a bigger concern for you than saving your information with Google. This will come in the next couple of months, so you may not see it right away. Google will also be making Chrome"s password generator available to more people.
These new capabilities can be useful if you simply don"t have the need to enable sync for all of Chrome"s features, but it shouldn"t do much in the way of privacy protection since you"ll still be saving that information with Google. Still, if you find it useful, you may want to keep an eye out in case the features go live.