Google Chrome 93 Will Integrate Phone Numbers And SMS Verification

With the upcoming version of the Chrome browser, websites will be able to verify the phone numbers of their users themselves. Google has equipped the browser with the ability to receive SMS with one-time passwords. For this, however, the user needs an Android smartphone.

Many websites want to verify the phone number in order to verify the identity of a user. For this purpose, an SMS is usually sent to the smartphone of the respective person. The message contains a code that must be entered on the page. Manually entering the one-time password (OTP) is perceived as annoying by many users. That’s why Google has implemented an innovation in its browser.

Websites Have To Support WebOTP API

As the search engine company writes in its developer blog, the new Chrome version 93 brings support for SMS OTPs. In order to be able to use the feature, however, the website must support the WebOTP interface. So far, the API could only be supported by devices that can also allow the user to make calls. With Chrome 93, the API runs on a linked smartphone and picks up the message.

If you want to try the feature out, you can enter your phone number on this demo page. The automatic receipt of the one-time password only works if the user has installed the Chrome 93 Beta on their devices. In addition, both the desktop PC and the smartphone must be signed in with the same Google account.

At the moment the synchronization function is only provided by the Chromium engine. This means that SMS OTPs can only be received if the user is using an Android smartphone. Since the iOS version of Chrome is not based on Chromium, iPhones, and iPads are not supported. A future update may help here later.