TL;DR
- Google now lets you sign up for Android apps via email without using magical links and one-time PINs.
- Instead, Android now offers a verified email feature that lets you sign up for an app without having to switch to your email app for verification.
- This feature is only available for consumer Gmail accounts.
Signing up for new Android apps via email is a familiar task for many people. These apps usually send a magic link or one-time PIN (OTP) to your email address to make sure it’s really your address. But Google has now made things even more intuitive on Android with verified email.
Don’t want to miss the best of Android Authority?
Google recently updated Android’s Credential Manager API verified email Speciality In short, this means you can sign up for an app without having to switch to your email app to retrieve a magical link or OTP. In fact, you don’t have to deal with any magical links or OTPs. Instead, Google says the app refers to new “cryptographically verified email credentials” that are derived from your Google Account and stored on your device. App developers may also prompt users to create a passkey after this new signup process.
In addition to enabling more convenient app signup, Google says the verified email feature can also be used for account recovery and re-authentication for sensitive operations (for example, changing key settings). So it should be useful for your current apps too.
However, there are some caveats with verified emails. For one, it’s currently limited to consumer Google accounts. This means if you have a Workspace or managed account you’ll have to stick with legacy email verification methods for now.
What about Google Accounts that are created from non-Google email accounts? The company issued a clarification:
In the long run Google is not the official source of these email addresses. Although Google verifies the email when creating an account, the ownership of that email address can change over time. Therefore, for non-@gmail.com addresses, you should (app developers – ed) consider an additional verification step, such as sending an OTP, to ensure that the user still has access to the email account.
The good news is that you don’t need the latest Android phone or tablet to get this functionality. Google notes that the feature supports devices running Android 9 or newer, as well as Google Play Services 25.49.xx or newer. So your five year old phone should also get this option.
Thank you for being a part of our community. Please read our comment policy before posting.
