As the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy Note7 smartphone approaches, the company is promoting the security of its iris scanning feature—and clarifying its shortcomings—with a new FAQ.
Some of the concerns that arose prior to the device’s official announcement are, in fact, legitimate. The device’s iris scanning feature does have a fairly specific range of 25-35 cm from the user’s face, and it can be thwarted by glasses and certain contact lenses. It also may not function in direct sunlight.
But concerns about the safety of the feature appear to have not been warranted: Samsung says it’s “completely safe to use and there are no health implications associated with the technology.” It’s also more accurate than fingerprint scanning as it “results in fewer false acceptances… according to some studies,” and, like the fingerprint data collected on recent Samsung smartphones, users’ iris biometric data is stored in Samsung’s secure Knox platform.
If the device’s iris scanning proves easy to use and effective, it could help to promote mobile iris scanning the way the iPhone’s Touch ID helped to popularize mobile fingerprint sensors. And that will be good even for rival biometrics specialists, whose putatively more effective solutions could prove increasingly popular among mobile OEMs clamoring for eye-scanning tech.
(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)
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