Hate passwords? Google does too, and may begin doing away with conventional passwords on Android devices this year. At Google I/O, the company announced the next steps in its plans to begin using a password alternative: "trust scores" that determine your creds based on various data points. Developed by Google's Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group, the Trust API will roll out to "several very large" financial institutions within the next few weeks.
"This should become available to every Android developer around the world by the end of the year," said Google's Dan Kaufman at I/O last week.
The trust score is based off various user-specific data points, including current location, facial recognition, and typing patterns. Certain apps could require different scores. A banking app might want a higher trust score than Instagram requires, for instance. The Trust API always runs in the background of users' devices, monitoring its sensors and information to so that it can provide apps with the current trust score — basically its confidence level that you are who you say you are.
"We have a phone, and these phones have all these sensors in them. Why couldn’t it just know who I was, so I don’t need a password? I should just be able to work," Kaufman said.
"Google could replace some passwords with a 'trust score' by the end of the year"
