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Finger Print Scanner

Krov7 said:
If they do include a fingerprint scanner, I don't care absolutely at all about any other features they include, even a 50mp camera 1 week battery and tv sized screen, I will not be upgrading. With all the news lately, I do NOT want apple scanning my finger prints and sending them back to their servers / selling information to 3rd parties.
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Give Apple a little more credit.

Apple will not store your fingerprint on the device, much less a server. Apple will use your fingerprint and other biometric data obtained from the sensor (such as skin density and vein patterns) in conjunction with information unique to your particular phone and/or iCloud account to create a password key -- the equivalent of a very, very, very long alphanumeric password.

Developers will not have direct, low-level access to the hardware to grab your fingerprint. However, developers should be able to call an Apple software routine that would generate a password key (I.e., a long number of 1s and 0s) based on the unique combination of your fingerprint, other biometric data, and the device hardware.

A fingerprint sensor is key to (a) corporate and government customers and (b) mobile payments. Corporations and government agencies currently require 8-12 digit alphanumeric passwords to unlock a phone; a fingerprint reader would eliminate these passwords, if properly implemented. Mobile payments haven't taken off because of concerns over security; a fingerprint reader, or a pin combined with a fingerprint reader, would largely address those concerns.
 
A finger print scanner is more secure than any passcode.

Nobody can watch you type in your passcode when you unlock it using a fingerprint. They would have to physically use your fingerprint, so if they stole your phone they wouldn't be able to get into it without you.

Even with a backup password (in case the scanner fails), presumably you'll hardly ever have to type your password in so less chance of it being seen.

Unless it's exploitable in some way...

One thing that would be cool (more so for the iPad) is if the device supports multiple users and automatically loads the user environment based on whose fingerprint it is.
 
matttye said:
One thing that would be cool (more so for the iPad) is if the device supports multiple users and automatically loads the user environment based on whose fingerprint it is.
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Exactly. I expect both the iPad Mini Retina and the next iPad Retina to incorporate a fingerprint scanner for security and multi-user functionality. Although multi-user capability may come with IOS 7.1 circa February/March 2014.
 
If you're a heavy sleeper, I'm pretty sure anybody would be able to unlock your phone with your finger.
 
Brittany246 said:
If you're a heavy sleeper, I'm pretty sure anybody would be able to unlock your phone with your finger.
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If people are physically proximate to you while you're asleep, they could do worse than unlock your phone, so presumably it will be someone you trust!

617aircav said:
Ain't gonna happen folks.
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That's what people said on here about siri just before it was introduced. Some guy came on and basically posted a comment that was SPOT ON about the iPhone 4S a day or two before it was released, and nobody believed it.
 
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