Amidst allthe big Google I/O news, the company quietly made a major overhaul to Chromes password manager.

Whats Actually New?

Googleor, more specifically, Chromehas had a makeshift password manager for a while now.

Now, the whole system has been upgraded and rolled intoGoogles Smart Lock feature.

If that name sounds familiar, its probably because youve used it on your Android phone.

This is protected by Googles standardtwo-factor authentication(which you should be using).

Hopefully more will support Smart Lock soon.

The process is completely invisible.

Where Smart Lock Is Awesome

To call Smart Lock a password manager would be misleading.

What Googles trying to build is an entire identity solution.

Your Bluetooth gadget unlocks your phone.

Your phone unlocks your Google account with two-factor authentication.

Your Google account unlocks all your other logins.

1Password is a paid app on every platform.

While most password managers are worth the money, not everyones going to pay for it.

Smart Locks ultimate selling point is convenience.

The password manager part of Smart Lock still isnt as good as other solutions.

Theyre supposed toprotect your data.

Securing your passwords doesnt matter much if you use the same passwords for everything.

Services like LastPass can generate long, complex passwords youd never remember and then remember themfor you.

Unfortunately, Smart Lock still relies on you to generate your own secure passwords.

Smart Lock cant do any of this.

As of right now, most paid password managers have a pretty big head start on Google.

They have more advanced features, theyre on more platforms, and theyve been around longer.

If youre happy with it, theres not much in the way of a reason to switch.

Its not evenreallybuilding a password manager at all.

Smart Lock is designed for one simple purpose:getting over your laziness.

Despite theseeminglyendlessfloodofcompaniesgettinghacked, its still a chore to convince most people to takeeven basic measurestoprotect their security.

The problem isnt that security solutions dont exist.

Its that many people just wont use them.

The upside is, it doesnt suck anymore.

While there are some more fully featured options available, Smart Lock isnt blatantly insecure anymore.

At the very least, its not any more insecure than your Google account.

Thats better than nothing.