Google brings reCAPTCHA to Android devices

CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) or reCAPTCHA might be annoying at times but are necessary to keep applications and data safe from bot abuse.

Continuing its bot-fighting program, Google is now bringing reCAPTCHA to Android. The tech giant is launching with the latest iteration of the technology — Invisible reCAPTCHA — that runs “risk analysis behind the scene and has enabled millions of human users to pass through with zero clicks every day.”

"On websites using this new API, a significant number of users will be able to securely and easily verify they are human without actually having to solve a CAPTCHA. Instead, with just a single click, they will confirm they are not a robot," said Vinay Shet, Product Manager, reCAPTCHA, Google, in a blog post.

Invisible reCAPTCHA uses machine learning and advanced risk analyses to determine if a visitor is a bot or a human without engaging with the users themselves. The technology considers things like your IP address and how you engage with the website to make its assessments.

The reCAPTCHA Android API, part of Google Play Services, is included with Google SafetyNet. And developers will be able to do device and user attestations in the same API for a more streamlined mitigation of security risks.

The new API builds on Google’s other recent improvements. In March, the search giant introduced “invisible reCAPTCHAs,” or CAPTCHAs that automatically disappear when a human user is detected. Form fillers that trip Google’s Advanced Risk Analysis algorithms will still have to solve the CAPTCHA test, but most users won’t see it at all.