With latest version of Google Play Services, Android 7.0 and up now supports the FIDO2 standard which lets users login to services using fingerprints or PIN
Here's a good reason to update to your latest version of Google Play Services: Android devices running version 7. and later can now log …
Context & Ripple Effects
This closes a loop Google opened in 2015 when it announced fingerprint authentication for the next version of Android and shipped Smart Lock for Passwords in Play Services. The difference now is delivery: rather than waiting on an OS release, Google is pushing the FIDO2 standard out through Google Play Services itself, so any device on Android 7.0 or later gets phishing-resistant logins via fingerprint or PIN regardless of manufacturer update cadence.
First-order effects
- Hundreds of millions of Android 7.0+ users can now authenticate to FIDO2-compliant services with a fingerprint or PIN instead of a password, no OS upgrade required.
Second-order effects
- Service providers are pulled toward FIDO2 adoption because Google has already wired client-side support into its own login flow, including hardware-key logins on Firefox and Edge (Google's FIDO2 login update), lowering the integration cost on both ends.
- Vendors selling dedicated hardware security keys gain an unexpected rival: weeks later Google extended this so any Android 7.0+ phone doubles as a two-factor security key, turning devices users already carry into authenticators.
Third-order effects
- Shipping security infrastructure through Play Services rather than Android releases further concentrates platform power at Google, since OEMs' slow update pipelines stop being the bottleneck for new authentication capabilities.
- If the pattern holds, password-based login becomes the legacy path on mobile, with biometric-and-PIN credentials as the default and standards bodies like FIDO setting the interoperability layer across browsers and platforms.
The trend: Authentication is shifting from passwords to standardized biometric credentials, distributed through platform services like Google Play Services rather than operating-system upgrades.