Google Chromeoffers its own built-in password manager, but that effort has trailed behind some of its third-party competition. In recent years, though, it’s been making improvements, likeadding a shortcut to the password manager on Android, as well asallowing users to add notes to existing credentials. Now, we’re checking out early work on what could be Chrome’s next addition, with an option to share saved passwords with others.
This latest discovery was made by Chrome feature researcher and Android Police reader Leopeva64, who has uncovered new development efforts ona button to share passwordsin the browser’s password management menu. Clicking the button does not currently do anything, as you can see in the video below.
Of course, there’s no guarantee this feature will end up being incorporated in the next stable feature of Chrome. It certainly isn’t the first time we’ve crossed paths with an idea like this, and back in February 2022, Leopeva64 spotted that Chromium developers weredabbling with a “Send Password” button. Like this latest discovery, it looked like it would be accessed while viewing login credentials on the password manager — but just like now, clicking it also did nothing. Is this new “Share” button its latest reincarnation?
Some clues may lie with the tech giant itself. Earlier this month, Google sharedfive new features coming to Google Password Manager, including a dedicated home for the password manager on the desktop version of Chrome, as well as the aforementioned ability to save notes about your accounts. While there was no mention of sharing or sending passwords, this feature may still be in too early a phase of development. Our friend Leopeva64 may have an excellent track record for sifting through code and spotting new features, but in the end what we get is ultimately dependent on Google’s ever-shifting whims.
If you don’t feel like waiting around for Google to finish work on this, you’ve got plenty of othergreat password managerswork checking out — BitWarden already incorporates advanced features like sharing credentials, as well asgenerating strong passwordsand support fortwo-factor authentication.
