ByeBye to Passwords: Google to Enable Password-Free Logins on Android

Project Abacus’s Launch at Google I/O 2015

During the 2015 Google I/O developer conference, Google announced its plans to remove passwords which is to be replaced by a new system dubbed 'Project Abacus', that verifies user's identity based on various patterns such as typing, walking, current location, etc.

At this year’s conference, Dan Kaufman, Director of Google's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) Team said the project will be available to developers towards the end of the year.

Describing the problem with password-based authentication, Kaufman said, “We have a phone, and these phones have all these sensors in them. Why could not it just know who I was, so I do not need a password? I should just be able to work”. 

He stated that Google engineers in the search and machine intelligence groups have turned Project Abacus’s ideas into something tagged “Trust API,” and this API is entering testing with banks starting next month. In June, several very large financial institutions will begin their initial testing of the Trust API. And assuming it goes well, this should become available to every Android developer around the world by the end of the year, he clarified.

Commenting on other ATAP projects, such as connected clothing, modular smartphone, radar sensors, he said “Trust API,”, could introduce more of a real-world change in how users interact with apps on their smartphones adding that it also offers a new way of securing the content in apps , i.e. If someone else gain access to your phone and was able to unlock it, all the apps could be locked down automatically simply because that person is not you.