New Android Operating System Extends Biometric Authentication

Samsung started bringing the latest version of Google’s Android operating system to its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge this week. And among Android Nougat’s new features is support for a biometric identification platform.

Called Samsung Pass, the system was first announced last August. It’s meant to act as a kind of digital master key for compatible websites and apps, prompting the user for a fingerprint scan to sign in when those sites and apps are accessed. In other words, it extends biometric authentication beyond Samsung Pay and into the web.

That biometric authentication could soon be extended to iris scanning, too. When Samsung Pass was first announced, the modality was highlighted, with Samsung planning to enable iris-based authentication via its Galaxy Note7 smartphone. That device, of course, proved to be a fiasco. But Samsung is thought to be working on an iris scanning system for its next flagship smartphone, and it seems likely that iris scanning will therefore eventually come to Samsung Pass.

Other new features of Android Nougat include a refined Quick Panel interface and notification display; expanded multi-window functionality; and a power-optimizing system designed to help users best direct their devices’ energies.