How Google will simplify your sign-in process in Android 11

Google recently kicked off its 11 Weeks of Android program. As a part of the program, the company, in a series of videos, has detailed how it is going to simplify the sign-in process for both developers and the end users.

This involves two new initiatives: One Tap and Block Store.

As of now there are three sign-in solutions available online. First is the Google sign-in, which enables users to use their Google Accounts to log into third-party apps. The second is Smart Lock for Passwords, which helps users sign in automatically when they open an app or visit a website. And the third is the Android Autofill. However, the issues with these methods, as Google explains is that they are not only complex for the users but also for the end users who may not trust these solutions enough.

Enter: One Tap. One Tap is a cross-platform sign-in supporting technique that allows users to sign-in or sign-up on a website or in an app using a single tap. New users can sign up using One Tap without being interrupted by a sign-up screen wherein they will be given a “secure, token-based, passwordless account” that will be associated with their Google Accounts. Users will then be prompted to save the password using Autofill or an ‘explicit password saving option’ that is provided by One Tap. On the other hand, users who are revisiting an app or a website can sign-in using One Tap on any device whether they are using a password or a Google account. This feature is available on both Android and on the web.

The second solution that Google is working on is called Block Store. It is a “secure end-to-end encrypted credential storage solution” for developers that stores usernames and passwords in the form of tokens instead of plain text. When a user signs in or sign-up in an app, developers can save the authentication token generated by that transaction to the Block Store. This token is then encrypted and stored locally on the device. If the user has enabled the cloud, the token is end-to-end encrypted and also stored in the Google Cloud. Later, when the user returns to the app on a new device, Block Store will restore the token allowing developers to keep the user signed in on the new device.

Both these solutions, that is One Tap and Block Store, are a part of a unified Google Identity Services (GIS) library for Android and they will eventually replace Google Sign In and Smart Lock for Passwords.