Password Checkup was an extension for Chrome that offered users better control and protection over their passwords. Since many people use the same password for multiple services, having it exposed can cause lots of trouble.
The Password Checkup tool did a real-time inspection for any possible security bridges. If it found any, users were notified and prompted to change their password.
Password Checkup launched in 2019, and a year later, it was integrated into the Chrome Browser. Google tends to take security while browsing the web quite seriously. Since having one’s password monitored and safe is quite important, they decided to switch the feature from optional for download to pre-installed and obligatory.
The company announced its decision in July 2020 and informed people using the extension that it would no longer work starting August 31 onwards. However, they assured users that the feature was already active in the browser and was set to ENABLED by default.
Users just had to make sure they had the latest Chrome version installed. Additionally, if anyone wanted to turn the service off, they could do that in the browser’s security settings: chrome://settings/security.