Chrome 86 Adds Password Alerts, Enhanced Safe Browsing for Android, and More

Oct. 7, 2020

Googlestarted testing password alertsfor Chrome in October last year androlled out the feature to PCsin December with Chrome 79. The software giant is now bringing the much-needed feature to Android and iOS with the latest Chrome 86 update.

With Chrome 86, thebrowser will warn you if one of the saved passwords gets compromised. To check compromised passwords, Google will securely send a copy of your usernames and passwords to its servers. The company promises it can’t access your credentials due to encryption.

As detailed last month, Chrome 86will add a Change password buttonbased on ‘well-known URLs’ to redirect users to the change password page. Combining these two features, you can easily reset compromised passwords without much hassle or complications involved.

On iOS, Chrome is adding an additional layer of security before you autofill passwords. The browser will ask you toauthenticate using Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode before filling the credentials. Chrome on iOS will also autofill saved credentials to other apps or browsers.

Password protection is not the only security feature coming to mobile with Chrome 86. The browser has addedmixed form warnings on desktop and Android. With this feature, Chrome will warn when HTTPS pages have non-secure content, say when you’re filling an unencrypted form present in an HTTPS page. The browser will also block or warn when secure pages initiate insecure downloads.

Chrome 86 update also addsEnhanced Safe Browsing for Android. If you turn on the feature, Chrome will protect you against phishing, malware, and other dangerous sites by sharing real-time data with Google’s Safe Browsing service. Google mentions that itnoticed a 20 percent drop in phishing attemptswhen users enabled the feature on desktop.

Alongside, Google has revealed its plans to add Safety Check on Android and iOS in the next release. For those unaware, Safety Check checks if Safe Browsing is enabled and makes sure that your version of Chrome is up to date.

Chrome 86 is now rolling out on desktop, Android, and iOS. You can install the update on the mobile versions from Google Play Store and App Store respectively.

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Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.