Touch ID is Apple’s fingerprint sensor built-in to the Home button that first debuted with the iPhone 5s. A year later Touch ID became an integral part of Apple Pay that launched just after the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and also came to the iPad Air 2. The first Mac to gain Touch ID was the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in late 2016.
Conflicting reports have been plentiful this year as to how Apple will handle Touch ID with the iPhone 8 or whether face recognition may replace it altogether.
A cryptic new leak today suggests that Apple is developing new technology to bring Touch ID functionality back to the iPhone. While the iPad Air just added Touch ID to the power button, Apple is reportedly working to add Touch ID functionality under the iPhone’s screen.
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A neat new feature available for developers to build into websites with the Safari 14 beta is the ability to bypass username and password fields with Face ID or Touch ID offering a much more seamless experience to users.
An Apple Watch with Touch ID sensor has been on the wishlists of many people for quite some time now. A new Apple patent application published today shows that Apple is at least considering the idea.
It follows a similar patent for embedding a Touch ID sensor into an iPhone power button…
One of the biggest question marks over future iPhones is whether Apple will stick with Face ID, or instead adopt under-display Touch ID.
Apple is continuing to work on both forms of biometric security and was today awarded a patent for one approach to a fingerprint sensor which could be embedded into a display…
If you have recently updated to iOS 13 and have found you are unable to log in to some apps like your bank, or 1Password, or other apps that need authentication, we may have the solution. It turns out there is an iPhone iOS 13 bug affecting older iPhones with Touch ID, where the in-app authentication dialog simply doesn’t appear. Here’s the fix…
In-screen Touch ID could be appearing in iPhones as early as next year, according to a new report today. But while the current report suggests that both Touch ID and Face ID fans will be catered for, that may not remain the case for long.
The debate between the respective fans of Touch ID and Face ID began when Apple launched the iPhone X, the first iPhone to be launched without the fingerprint reader since it made its debut on the iPhone 5S in 2013.
With the iPhone X launch, Apple seemed pretty clear that Face ID was the future of iPhone authentication. It is, says Apple, faster, easier, and more secure than Touch ID…
A new report today suggests that Apple is bringing back Touch ID to iPhones. Unlike a sketchier report last month, this one says that under-display Touch ID will not replace Face ID, but rather supplement it, with 2021 iPhones able to be unlocked using either method.
The report certainly cannot be dismissed out of hand. While analyst Ming-Chi Kuo doesn’t have a perfect track-record, he has a far better one than most. Deep dives into Apple’s supply-chain means that he often has visibility on upcoming developments…
In a sketchy report published on several Chinese media sites yesterday, including Mashdigi, Apple is purportedly considering to make a new iPhone model for the Chinese market, as it faces stiff price competition from domestic manufacturers like Oppo and Huawei.
Several months ago, we heard of the first known case of law enforcement requiring a suspect to unlock their phone with Face ID. Forbes reports today, however, that a California judge has ruled that, even with a warrant, the government can’t force people to unlock their devices via biometric features.
This time last year rumors that Apple might embed Touch ID in the iPhone X screen were fading but not totally gone. Now the customer response to Face ID on the iPhone seems to be good enough that facial recognition is expected to come to the iPad this year.
Fingerprint recognition still has benefits over Face ID in certain situations, however, so should we expect Touch ID to be part of future iPhone screens? Reliable supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo doesn’t think so.
We know from both a succession of patents and Apple statements that the company was exploring a Touch ID sensor embedded into the screen of the iPhone before it settled on Face ID for last year’s flagship iPhone …
A new web standard being recommended for adoption would open the way for both Face ID and Touch ID to be used to login to websites.
The API, known as WebAuthn, allows existing security devices – like fingerprint readers, cameras and USB keys – to be used for website authentication …
iPhone X owners with children have been complaining for a while about the impossibility of approving purchases using Face ID. While on devices with Touch ID it has always been possible to approve purchases using the biometric authentication, the feature had not been implemented for Face ID …
It was long-rumored that Apple was working on embedding Touch ID into the display of the iPhone X. The Cupertino company had multiple patents for different approaches to the task, and it confirmed after launch that it had been working on the technology.
Synaptics has now announced that it has put an in-display fingerprint sensor into mass-production for a ‘top 5’ Android smartphone manufacturer, under the branding Clear ID. The company isn’t saying who, but does reference ‘infinity displays,’ making Samsung a prime candidate.
But with Apple having instead opted for Face ID, my view is that offering an embedded fingerprint sensor as a competitive feature is too little, too late …
One thing really jumped out at me yesterday reading Mashable’s early review of the iPhone X, and that was Apple’s response to a query by Lance Unlanoff.
One important limitation of Face ID: It only lets you register one face. That may strike many as unnecessarily limiting since Touch ID lets users register up to 10 [sic] fingerprints, but Apple says it found the number of people who register more than one person’s fingerprints is miniscule.
The idea that hardly anyone registers more than one person’s fingerprint didn’t ring true to me, and our poll shows that it’s not true for 9to5Mac users at least …
With early reviewers finding that Face ID on the iPhone X is mostly reliable, if not perfect, the transition from fingerprints to face may not be too big a deal. But there is one clear drawback compared to Touch ID: you can only register one face.
With Touch ID, you can register multiple fingers – which can include a partner or child, for example – but Apple chose not to allow this with faces. The company told Mashable that’s because only a ‘miniscule’ number of people do this.
But that sounds odd to me …
Apple yesterday shared details of how face recognition works on the iPhone X, but one thing that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves is how Apple future-proofed its iOS authentication from the start.
This future-proofing is why all Touch ID enabled apps will automatically authenticate with Face ID without requiring developers to update …
iOS 11 beta 6 (released earlier this week) includes a new feature to quickly disable Touch ID from the lock screen. Tapping the lock button five times to access the SOS screen or opening a Medical ID will cause the iPhone or iPad to temporarily reject all Touch ID attempts, requiring a passcode to unlock.
We have confirmed with sources that this behavior is intentional rather than a bug, as well as some explanation as to why it was added. Whilst in theory it can be used to prevent law enforcement from compelling suspects to unlock their device with fingerprint, it also helps protect people who have fallen unconscious…
Barron’s is claiming that Apple still hasn’t finalized its authentication plans for the iPhone 8, and has ‘just weeks’ to decide whether or not to include a Touch ID module embedded into the display.
“Apple continues to struggle with the workaround for the fingerprint sensor,” writes Hargreaves, “This increases the potential that the new OLED iPhone could be delayed, or ship without a fingerprint sensor, either of which could increase risk to unit sales and mix for the cycle.”
The report even suggests that the flagship phone could launch without support for Apple Pay …
There are few analysts with as good a track record as KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo when it comes to Apple. His close links to companies in Apple’s supply-chain puts him in a good position to judge what is and isn’t on the way when it comes to new products.
But having a good track record isn’t the same as being right every time, and his latest report – that the iPhone 8 will drop Touch ID altogether – seems questionable to me …
Qualcomm has demonstrated a working under-display fingerprint reader, lending confidence to the idea that Apple will have its own version ready for the iPhone 8.
So far, the idea of embedding a fingerprint reader into the display of a device has been the stuff of patents and promises. The closest we’ve got to a working product was when Xiaomi showed off a very early version of the tech on a phone launched last year …
A series of apparent iPhone 8 leaks still haven’t answered one of the biggest questions about this year’s flagship iPhone: will the fingerprint sensor be embedded into the display?
We know that Apple has numerous patents for this type of embedded fingerprint technology, and it also appears clear that the display will occupy almost the entire front face of the device, but some claimed leaks do show a fingerprint sensor on the back of the case. I’ve discussed a third option, where a Touch Bar element appears to be part of the display, and a patent published today raises a fourth possibility …
The law lags badly behind technology in a great many areas. One area where there is still huge uncertainty is whether the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination protects someone who refuses to disclose the passcode to their phone.
We’ve seen conflicting rulings in the past, and a Miami report shows that rulings may even vary between courts in the same state …