Google ditches email verification dance for android apps

Signing up for apps on Android has long been a tedious ritual – a digital obstacle course involving email hops, code entry, and password wrangling. But Google is aiming to streamline this process, announcing a new ‘Verified Email’ feature that promises to significantly reduce the friction.

A single tap to verification

The new feature, delivered straight through Android's Credential Manager API, allows apps to pull your Google-verified email with a single tap, bypassing the traditional back-and-forth with your inbox. Instead of a multi-step process, users will see a native Android sheet displaying the data requested, tap “Agree and continue,” and be done. It's a refreshingly simple solution to a widespread annoyance.

Google is also pushing developers to integrate this with passkey creation, a move they’ve been championing since 2023. The ultimate goal? A sign-up experience where passwords and code hunts are relics of the past. This isn't a Google-exclusive solution, either; it's built on the W3C Digital Credentials API, meaning any identity provider could potentially utilize it in the future.

Crucially, the initial rollout only supports consumer Google accounts—Workspace and supervised accounts are currently excluded. Google’s guidance also suggests auto-verifying @gmail.com addresses while routing custom domain emails through the usual OTP route, a sensible compromise balancing convenience and security.

Beyond 'sign in with google': a nuance worth noting

It's easy to confuse this with the familiar