Apple add fingerprint reader to iPhone 5s

Apple has built a fingerprint reader into its new flagship smartphone, the iPhone 5s, calling the technology Touch ID.

There are a few different fingerprint-sensor technologies out there, with optical and capacitance readers being the most common. Optical readers take a picture of your fingerprint with a digital camera. Apple chose a capacitance reader, which is far more interesting.

Touch ID uses a capacitance sensor to detect small differences in electrical conductivity on the surface of your finger. A capacitance fingerprint reader leverages a handy property of your skin: The outer layer of your skin (your dermis), where your fingerprint is, is non-conductive, while the subdermal layer behind it is conductive. When you touch the iPhone’s fingerprint sensor, it measures the minuscule differences in conductivity caused by the raised parts of your fingerprint, and it uses those measurements to form an image.

Apple embedded this sensor in the Home button, and added a ring to turn it on and help reduce signal errors. I suspect that the ring also adds a little current to your finger to help boost and clean the signal. Once your fingerprint is scanned, it’s converted to a template, not stored as an image.

Every time you scan your fingerprint, the phone runs through the same algorithmic process and the result is compared with the stored hash. Not only is your actual fingerprint not stored, but it’s likely really hard or impossible to recover even if the NSA gets your phone.

Apple has stated that other apps will be able to use Touch ID, but also that said apps will never access your fingerprint. Again, I think these apps will probably use the iOS Keychain. Apple may also open up the API to allow apps to access the Touch ID sensor itself, or, more likely, to have iOS authenticate you and pass along the result. Finally, many apps and services, such as Twitter, use a standard called OAuth to allow access without exposing your username and passcode on the device. This won’t change, but perhaps there will be a new API call so such apps can check to see if you unlocked the phone, and it wasn’t merely laying around for someone to access.

There are two reasons this is exciting. First, this now means you won’t have to enter your passcode before you can do simple things like texting. As Apple has said, only about half of iPhone users use a passcode at all, and I suspect most of them use a simple four digit PIN. Your fingerprint is a far more secure option, and putting the reader right in the home button makes it more convenient than swiping your phone to unlock it.

It is yet another example of Apple making security invisible. Over the next few years I think it is safe to say that most iDevices will include a Touch ID sensor, placing strong security into everyone’s hands.

But take this a step further. Although a fingerprint alone isn’t necessarily more secure than a passcode, combining a fingerprint and a security token counts as strong authentication. Some of you already use your iPhone as a security token with your bank or services like Dropbox or Google Authenticator that send one-time codes to the phone registered with your account.

Now all those services could eventually have the option (depending on Apple) of using both your fingerprint and your device to authenticate you. Apple may be placing strong, biometrics-enabled authentication in the hands of masses of consumers. During Apple’s announcement, the company clearly stated that it considers phones to be keys, which indicates it’s heading down the path of making your phone, and your fingerprint, the keys to your digital life.

And perhaps your physical life, too, as door locks, home alarms, payment cards, payment systems like Passbook, and other codes and credentials are stored on your phone and made accessible using everything from WiFi and LTE to short-range Bluetooth protocols. Touch ID could be game-changing in the long run, and I’d expect other phone manufacturers to follow that same path, to the point that unlocking your phone with your fingerprint to access online and real world services will someday seem entirely normal.

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