We have passwords because they are needed for security, but none of us really like them, right? I enjoy knowing my stuff is secure, but I don’t enjoy wasting a few seconds every single time I want to use something. The Chromium OS team is working on creating a password-free screen unlock feature for Chromebooks, so we might not had to deal with these discrepancies for long.
How would password-free unlock work
We are not sure of anything, as this continues to be an experiment, but said features should be based on the “chrome.screenlockPrivate” API. In a nutshell, it would allow Chrome Apps to unlock the screen, check if the screen is locked or unlocked, and show messages to the user if the app decides not to unlock the screen.
Will Chromebooks still be secure?
Those are the three main functions, but things get much more exciting as we dig deeper. If you don’t use a password to unlock the screen, there must be a secure replacement, and there is. Apps are said to be allowed to use USB, NFC or bluetooth to communicate with “trusted devices”.
This trusted device could be anything that uses any of the three communication tools. It could be a phone, a wearable gadget, a tablet, an NFC bracelet – literally anything. This gives us the ability to keep our Chromebooks secure while we add a fun element to it.
I am really looking forward to the future of Chroembooks. This is looking pretty nifty!