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Google Chrome Canary is testing a prompt for device biometrics before it fills a saved password, but the available reporting does not show that this is a feature borrowed from Firefox. The documented Firefox-for-Android feature is extension support—an entirely different capability. The two developments should not be conflated.
What Chrome is testing on Android
Android Central reported on October 2, 2026, that Chrome Canary included a flag called “Biometric reauth for password filling.” When enabled, the experiment may require a fingerprint, face unlock, or another supported device-authentication method before Chrome fills a saved password. Android Central’s report describes a Canary test, not a feature confirmed for stable Chrome.
Canary is an experimental Chrome release channel. A flag in Canary indicates development or testing; it does not establish that the feature is enabled by default, will ship, or is available to ordinary Chrome users. The report does not say Firefox has the same biometric password-filling feature.
What Firefox for Android has offered
The Firefox feature relevant to the “controversial mobile feature” framing is browser extensions. Mozilla’s September 27, 2023 post invited developers and community members to test extensions in Firefox for Android Beta and Nightly. Mozilla described selecting popular desktop extensions compatible with mobile APIs, installing and trying them on Android, and sharing feedback. Mozilla’s post documents that testing effort; it is not a claim about biometric authentication.
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A 2024 provisional report from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recorded that Chrome did not support extensions on Android at the time of its investigation, while Firefox and some other third-party browsers offered them. The CMA cited Firefox for Android 121.0, released in December 2023, as adding support for over 400 more extensions. Those are dated findings and should not be treated as a current, complete extension catalogue. The CMA report provides the historical comparison.
How the features differ
| Capability | Browser and channel | What the sources establish |
|---|---|---|
| Extensions | Firefox for Android Beta and Nightly (Mozilla, September 2023); Firefox 121.0 (CMA, 2024 report) | Mozilla invited testing of mobile-compatible extensions. The CMA later cited Firefox 121.0 as adding over 400 more extensions in December 2023. |
| Extensions | Chrome for Android, as assessed by the CMA in 2024 | The CMA report said Chrome did not support extensions on Android at the time of its investigation. |
| Biometric reauthentication before password filling | Chrome Canary, reported October 2, 2026 | Android Central reported a Canary flag for the experiment. The report does not establish stable-channel availability or an equivalent Firefox feature. |
These capabilities solve different problems: extensions add browser functions, while biometric reauthentication would add an authentication step to password filling. A comparison between them cannot show that Chrome is copying Firefox.
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What the headline claim gets wrong
The available sources substantiate two separate facts: Firefox for Android has supported extensions, and Chrome Canary has been reported testing biometric reauthentication before password filling. They do not identify biometrics as a Firefox mobile feature or establish that Chrome’s test is based on Firefox. Calling the Chrome experiment “one of Firefox’s most controversial mobile features” therefore overstates what the evidence supports.
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For readers asking whether Chrome for Android supports extensions, the CMA’s answer was no at the time of its 2024 investigation; that finding is not a live status check. For readers asking whether Chrome requires biometrics to autofill passwords, the reported behavior was an experiment in Canary, not a confirmed stable Chrome requirement.
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