3D facial recognition is now making its way into the digital document signing space, thanks to a software update for the SignEasy app on iOS.

As 9to5Mac reports, SignEasy has become the first digital document signing app to enable support for Face ID, the sophisticated biometric authentication system of Apple’s latest iPhones. In addition to securing access to the app, Face ID can be used for the final step of the document signing process, ensuring that the signatory is the authorized iPhone user.

What’s more, whether or not Face ID was used in a given document signing process is recorded in SignEasy’s audit trail, ensuring that documents signed with the feature have a higher level of credibility.

As SignEasy explained in a blog post announcing the upgrade, the Face ID features “doubles as a convenience upgrade and a security upgrade: if your phone gets stolen, or if you are working on a shared corporate device, you don’t need to worry about someone else being able to view sensitive documents or sign new documents on your behalf.”

SignEasy has been available on iOS for years now, but becomes a biometric e-signature pioneer with this latest update; and while the e-signature itself is still a part of the document signing process, it’s conceivable that the biometric scan could eventually replace it entirely (though SignEasy made no mention of this possibility in its announcement). In any case, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a great deal of business to go digital, the feature may be a welcome one to many.

Source: 9to5Mac