Account verification for chrome extensions should include voice

[Ken Morse]

Currently account verification for chrome extensions requires a mobile number so the account can be verified via SMS. This isn't a great option for company phone numbers, especially those that don't use SMS. Please consider adding voice as an optional alternative to SMS verification — note the Google Play verification system already does this.

[Tim van der Heijden]

Yes, I fully agree, we ended up buying a mobile phone and sim just to pass verification. The phone now is resting on the desk of one our support employees in case someone calls this number. This is quiet suboptimal........

[Roberto Oneto]

The biometric parameters, in my opponion, should not be collected, transmitted and archived in any way.
To protect what? An extension developer account? I would rather remove the 2FA to verify and access that kind of account.

I would not provide  biometric parameters  even to enter my online bank account.

[Oliver Dunk]

Hi all,

We really appreciate the feedback - I'm making sure it is passed on to the team. At the moment, you are right that we do require phone number verification.

Roberto, my understanding is that displaying the phone number alongside your Chrome Web Store listing is actually a legal requirement under new EU legislation. I appreciate that you might have concerns about doing this and we have tried to keep the process as minimal as possible, but there are some parts that we have very little control over. This is something that applies to all online marketplaces so is going to become more commonplace across all similar stores in the near future.

Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB

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[Ken Morse]

Hi Oliver,

Just to be clear, my issue is not with the phone number verification itself, but rather than it can only (currently) be done by SMS, which leaves out a lot of company phone systems. There should be a voice number verification options as well.

Thanks,

Ken

[Tim van der Heijden]

Hi all,

I have nothing against phonenumber verification, but requiring it to be a mobile number makes no sense for my company. We have a helpdesk with several employees they are reachable through a landline support number. It makes no sense to use a mobile phone number for this. I am sure this is also the case for many other companies here in the Netherlands.

I noticed that the phone number requirement also applies to apps that are to be placed in the play store. Here the same problem applies. 

Hopefully you can soon find a solution for this. (Phone number verification through a voice call)

Op wo 14 aug 2024 om 15:07 schreef Oliver Dunk <olive...@google.com>

[Oliver Dunk]

Thanks Ken, that matches how I read your message.

I was just providing some extra context since I think Roberto had some understandable concerns about us requiring the phone number in general.

Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB

[Roberto Oneto]

Maybe I misunderstood, Ken Morse perhaps asked for an alternative way to the SMS which could be an automatic voice call that communicates a code in the same way.
I may have misunderstood that an additional factor (2FA) was requested for authentication with the recognition of a vocal imprint.

[Ken Morse]

You are correct, Roberto — I was asking for an optional alternative to using SMS for verification, similar to what the Google Play store offers for their verification.

[Ken Morse]

Hi Oliver — just checking in — any word from the team on adding alternative phone number verification in addition to SMS? We have a Manifest V3 extension ready to submit to the store to do the required replacement of a V2 version, but we cannot do the replacement since our company phone system doesn't handle SMS. Is there any word on adding alternative verification, perhaps voice, like the Google Play team has?

Thanks,

Ken

[Oliver Dunk]

Hi Ken,

I don't have any updates on the phone number verification I'm afraid, but we are continuing to discuss it internally.

In the meantime, trader verification is not currently a requirement. After selecting that you are a trader, you should be able to dismiss the dialog and continue with updating to Manifest V3.

Let me know if you have any trouble.

Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB

[Ken Morse]

Thanks Oliver! We were able to dismiss the verification dialog and submit a manifest v3 version of our extension.

That said, there remain a couple of significant warnings on the screen so hopefully by the time trader verification becomes a requirement, an optional alternative to SMS will be available.

Thanks again,
Ken

[owav]

Hi,

I'm also in the same situation : our work phone number doesn't support SMS and should be validated by voice (as we successfully did for our Google Play developer account).

I can't dismiss the verification dialog for my part (it opens back up blocking any other action on the dashboard), therefore we are completely stuck and cannot access our chrome extension developer dashboard until you allow us to be able to validated a non-mobile phone number. It is all the more urgent that we have a manifest v2 we need to update.

We don't mind at all providing a valid, reachable and public phone number but we are completely stuck because there is no validation method available for it...