Is Mobile Iris Biometrics The Future of Aadhaar?

“Just as mobile fingerprint scanning started on high-end devices from Apple and quickly spread to cheaper smartphones, many expect the same pattern to unfold with respect to mobile iris scanning.”

With excitement building over smartphone iris scanning, Delta ID is seeking to pioneer the technology’s use with Aadhaar, India’s national biometric ID program.

As the Deccan Chronicle reports, Delta ID CEO Salil Prabhakar recently suggested that iris scanning would offer Indian citizens greater security than less reliable biometrics like fingerprints, asserting that the Unique Identity Authority of India, which administrates Aadhaar, “and the worldwide biometric community have tested and found iris to have better reliability.” That means more accurate authentication for citizens “once the cheaper iris integrated mobile devices are adopted in the market.”

Such ‘cheaper devices’ are anticipated to follow the lead of Samsung’s Galaxy S8 smartphones, which prominently feature iris scanning, in combination with facial recognition, for authentication. Just as mobile fingerprint scanning started on high-end devices from Apple and quickly spread to cheaper smartphones, many expect the same pattern to unfold with respect to mobile iris scanning.

For Delta ID, that trend represents a significant opportunity. The company’s iris scanning technology was approved for Aadhaar use last autumn, and had already been integrated into a tablet device made by Samsung. And with Fingerprint Cards, which recently announced its acquisition of Delta ID, now pushing into the Indian market, it appears that all the pieces are in place for Delta to push iris-based Aadhaar authentication in the country.

Source: Deccan Chronicle

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)