Posted by Niharika Arora, Senior Developer Relations Engineer and Jean-Pierre Pralle, Product Supervisor, Credential Supervisor
Within the trendy digital panorama, the primary encounter a consumer has with an app is usually essentially the most vital. But, for many years, this preliminary interplay has been hindered by the friction of conventional verification strategies. At present, we’re excited to announce a new verified electronic mail credential issued by Google, which builders can now retrieve straight from Android’s Credential Supervisor Digital Credential API.
The Downside: Authentication Friction within the Fashionable Period
The “present period” of authentication is outlined by a trade-off between safety and comfort. To make sure that a consumer owns the e-mail handle they supply, you sometimes depend on One-Time Passwords (OTPs) or “magic hyperlinks” despatched by electronic mail or SMS.
Whereas efficient, these conventional steps introduce important hurdles:
- Context switching: Customers should go away the app, open their inbox or messaging app, discover the code, and return, a course of the place many potential customers merely drop off.
- Supply points: Whereas Emails are free, they are often delayed or diverted to spam folders.
- Onboarding friction: Each additional second spent within the “verification loop” is a second the place a consumer would possibly lose curiosity, straight impacting conversion charges.
The Answer: Seamless, Verified E mail
Google now points a cryptographically verified electronic mail credential on to Android units. This verified electronic mail credential is delivered by the Credential Supervisor API, which is Android’s implementation of the W3C’s Digital Credential API normal.
For customers, this fully removes the necessity to manually confirm their electronic mail by exterior channels. For builders, the API securely delivers these verified consumer claims for any state of affairs whether or not you might be constructing an account creation movement, a restoration course of, or a high-risk step-up authentication.
Whereas this particular verified electronic mail handle is sourced securely from the consumer’s Google Account on their system, the underlying Digital Credentials API is issuer-agnostic. This fosters an open ecosystem, permitting any holder of a digital credential with an electronic mail declare to supply that verification to your app.
Consumer Expertise
The fantastic thing about this API lies in its simplicity for the tip consumer. As an alternative of looking for OTP codes, the expertise is built-in straight into the Android OS:
- Initiation: The method begins when a consumer focuses on an electronic mail enter discipline or faucets a “Join” or “Recuperate account” button. You can too provoke the method on web page load.
- Transparency: A local Android backside sheet seems, clearly detailing precisely what knowledge is being requested (for instance, consumer’s verified electronic mail handle).
- One-tap consent: The consumer merely faucets “Agree and proceed” to share the info.
- Quick progress: As soon as consent is given, the app receives the info immediately. For sign-up or account restoration flows, you may then seamlessly transition the consumer into passkey creation, guaranteeing:
- Customers do not need to enter any consumer info manually, as in comparison with the normal username/password registration.
- Their subsequent login is even quicker and safer.
Use case 1. Join
Speed up onboarding by fetching a verified electronic mail the second the consumer faucets “Join”. We strongly suggest you pair the verified electronic mail retrieval with passkey creation, additionally a part of the Credential Supervisor API:
Word: You can too fetch different unverified fields akin to a consumer’s given title, household title, title, profile image and the hosted area related with the verified electronic mail.
Use case 2. Account restoration
Eradicate the frustration of customers looking for restoration codes of their spam folders by permitting them to get better their account utilizing the verified electronic mail securely saved on their system.
Use case 3. Re-authentication for delicate actions
Shield delicate consumer actions, akin to altering settings or updating profile particulars, by requiring a fast re-authentication step. As an alternative of an OTP, you may present a low-friction verification utilizing the system’s verified electronic mail.
Necessary Concerns
As you design your authentication structure across the Digital Credentials API, hold the next particulars in thoughts:
- Account help: For the precise electronic mail credential issued by Google, solely common client Google Accounts are supported (Workspace and supervised accounts are at present not supported). Take into account that the Credential Supervisor API itself is issuer-agnostic, which means different id suppliers can challenge credentials with their very own account help insurance policies.
- Different consumer knowledge: Past electronic mail, you may request the consumer’s given title, household title, full title, and profile image. Nevertheless, be aware that solely the e-mail is verified by Google.
- Auto confirm your @gmail accounts: The API supplies verified emails for all client Google Accounts. We suggest auto-verifying @gmail.com customers and routing customized domains to your current verification movement – for instance, an OTP movement. This ensures you keep long-term entry for exterior domains in a roundabout way managed by Google.
- Complementary to Check in with Google: Whereas each the brand new verified electronic mail credential & Check in with Google API supplies a verified electronic mail, the selection depends upon the meant consumer expertise:
- Use Check in with Google when your customers need to create a federated login session.
- Use Verified E mail when your customers need to sign up historically with a username/password or passkey however need to auto-verify the e-mail handle with out the guide chore of an OTP.
Conclusion and Subsequent steps
By integrating the brand new verified electronic mail through Credential Supervisor API, you may drastically cut back onboarding friction and supply customers with a extra streamlined, safe authentication journey. This represents a shift towards a future the place “verification” is not a guide chore for the consumer, however a seamless, built-in a part of the native cellular expertise.
Able to see how this matches into your personal app? To get began, replace your undertaking to the newest Credential Supervisor API and discover our Integration Information. We encourage you to discover how this streamlined verification can simplify your vital consumer journeys from optimizing account creation, to enhancing re-authentication flows.


.png)
.png)
.png)