Touch ID is Apple’s fingerprint sensor built-in to the Home button that first debuted with the iPhone 5s. A year later Touch ID became an integral part of Apple Pay that launched just after the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and also came to the iPad Air 2. The first Mac to gain Touch ID was the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in late 2016.
Conflicting reports have been plentiful this year as to how Apple will handle Touch ID with the iPhone 8 or whether face recognition may replace it altogether.
The latest in a long line of will-they/won’t-they reports on Touch ID embedded into the display of the iPhone 8 says yes – but there have been so many conflicting reports, it remains an unknown for now.
Conflicting reports have suggested that Touch ID could be moved to the back of the iPhone or even dropped altogether in favor of face-recognition.
Some have suggested that Apple could move Touch ID to the power button, but it seems unlikely this would offer sufficient surface area for the type of sophisticated sensor used in existing iPhones …
Apple has today been granted patents for two headline features expected from the iPhone 8: an edge-to-edge display, and a Touch ID button embedded into the screen.
The edge-to-edge display patent has the rather mundane heading ‘Reducing the border area of a device.’ It describes how a mostly-flat display can have a curved border area allowing it to wrap around the sides of the device …
I’ve been giving more thought to the issue of how Apple might embed Touch ID into the display of the iPhone 8. So far, the various reports and rumors have focused on two possibilities: one hi-tech, one low-tech.
The hi-tech approach would be to embed a fingerprint reader beneath the display. We know from the sheer volume of Apple patents that Apple has plenty of ideas about how this might be achieved – but there’s a massive difference between a concept and a finished product. Indeed, there’s a huge gap between a fully-working prototype and something that works in volume production. If the rumors are to be believed, Apple has struggled to achieve this.
The low-tech approach would be to take the same route as many Android brands and simply move the Touch ID sensor to the rear of the casing. I’ve discussed previously why I think this would be a terrible idea, and the most recent reports do suggest Apple is not taking this approach.
But it strikes me that there’s a third possibility here. What might be termed a ‘mid-tech’ approach …
We’ve seen a whole bunch of rumors of late suggesting that while Apple really wants to embed a fingerprint reader into the display of the iPhone 8, it is struggling to do so.
The notion that Apple wants to use an embedded fingerprint reader seems abundantly clear. As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve had multiple reports from credible sources like Bloomberg, the WSJ and the New York Times. The claimed schematics and sketches have also all illustrated a design without any space for a Touch ID sensor at the bottom of the screen, and the volume of Apple patents makes it clear the company has been working hard on figuring out how to do it.
But, unusually for Apple, this is bleeding-edge technology. The company usually lets other manufacturers figure out the kinks in new tech before it launches later with a version that does the job properly. This is the reason it’s being suggested that the company may need a Plan B or even a Plan C …
iPhone 8 render without front Touch ID
Recent conflicting reports suggest Apple has not yet finalized the design of the flagship iPhone 8 this year in terms of how Touch ID will be implemented. If Apple introduces a new edge-to-edge display as expected, Touch ID will have to change from its bottom front location as the chin is dramatically reduced.
The best case scenario based on rumors is that Apple manages to implement the fingerprint scanner into the new OLED display, although low yield rates may rule that out this year. The less desired scenario is Apple moves Touch ID to the backside like Android phones today.
Now an analyst has floated what would likely be an even less popular scenario: no Touch ID.
The last time a sketchy report suggested that Apple was planning to move the Touch ID sensor to the rear of the iPhone 8, I wrote an opinion piece saying that I didn’t believe Apple was dumb enough to do it. I set out the four reasons I didn’t expect it to happen.
Alongside multiple reports of a Touch ID sensor embedded in the screen, and supporting patents for the required technology, I felt there were two reasons in particular to doubt the idea …
The iPhone 8 reports to date mostly point to Apple embedding the Home button and a new type of fingerprint sensor into the display itself, as a way to lose most of the ‘chin’ of the device. Today, however, the sketchiest of reports suggests that the company will instead move the existing Touch ID sensor to the rear of the phone.
The report mixes this in with a raft of things we’ve heard before. Glass backs, vertical cameras (which would be horizontal when used in the more common landscape mode) and iPhone Edition naming are all things that have been reported previously. So while iDropNews would like us to believe that its unspecified ‘insider’ has revealed a whole bunch of new things, the report is actually just a mish-mash of earlier rumors coupled to one piece of supposedly new information …
With the iPhone 8 expected to embed a fingerprint sensor into the display to allow much smaller top and bottom bezels, there’s no doubt that Apple has the technology required to make this possible. We’ve seen a steady stream of patents describing different ways to achieve this.
A four year old boy was able to call the emergency services after his mother lost consciousness, thanks to a combination of Touch ID and Siri.
Police report that the boy from just outside London first used his mother’s thumbprint to unlock her iPhone, then asked Siri to call 999 – the British equivalent of 911. Releasing a recording of the emergency call (below), they said that the boy’s actions enabled life-saving action to be taken …
Apple has filed a number of patent applications for different ways of embedding a fingerprint reader into a display, and one of these has today been granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Apple first applied for the patent in 2015.
In addition to allowing Apple to eliminate a separate Touch ID sensor, the patent also explains how embedding the reader into the screen can make for a more seamless experience …
All signs are pointing to Apple’s iPhone 8 arriving with new technologies that will replace Touch ID as we know it. So far the predicted possibilities include an optical fingerprint sensor, facial and gesture recognition, a next generation on-screen capacitive touch method, and as we reported last year when Apple filed the patent, ultrasonic imaging. More details have just come out about how sound imaging technology will work in a patent filed today by Apple.
With everyone expecting the iPhone 8 to feature minimal bezels, a key requirement to realize that vision would be to remove the chin housing the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. While an iris scanner has been rumored as a replacement for fingerprints, Apple is also not short on options for embedding a fingerprint reader into the display.
We’ve previously seen Apple patents for two different methods of doing this, and a patent granted today describes a third …
The Florida Court of Appeals has ruled that a suspect must tell police the passcode for his iPhone 5, overturning the original ruling that Fifth Amendment protections applied. This contradicts a Virginia court ruling in a separate case that a suspect can be forced to unlock a phone with their fingerprint, but cannot be forced to reveal their passcode as this would contravene the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
The new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is the first of Apple’s Macs to include a Touch ID sensor built-in for Apple Pay, unlocking the Mac with your fingerprint, and authentication purposes in third-party apps.
Other Macs can use Apple Pay, but they need to use a nearby iPhone or Apple Watch to authenticate and complete the purchase.
Here’s how it works:
With the new MacBook Pros with Touch Bar arriving to the first pre-order customers and going on sale at Apple stores this week, you might be looking to try out some apps that support the new hardware. Fortunately, Apple has already confirmed many apps that will get support for Touch Bar, the new contextually sensitive touchscreen panel embedded into the MacBook Pro’s keyboard, and many others app developers are announcing updates.
Head below for the full list.
After releasing major updates to its apps on both Android and iOS back in May, eBay has just updated its apps yet again to introduce brand new features. For iPhone and iPad users, that includes long-awaited supported for Touch ID as well as the addition of eBay’s new “One Time Password” login method.
A second federal judge has ruled that a suspect can be compelled to unlock their iPhone using their fingerprint in order to give investigators access to data which can be used as evidence against them. The first time this ever happened in a federal case was back in May, following a District Court ruling in 2014.
The latest case involves a suspect accused of particularly unpleasant crimes, reports Ars Technica.
A Dallas, Texas man accused of prostituting underage girls was secretly ordered by a federal judge to unlock his iPhone using his fingerprint, according to federal court documents that are now unsealed.
The legal position of forcing suspects to use their fingerprints to unlock devices won’t be known with certainty until a case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, but lower court rulings so far appear to establish a precedent which is at odds with that concerning passcodes …
Following Bank of America’s announcement that customers could withdraw cash from ATMs using Apple Pay, FIS and Payment Alliance International have today announced a new partnership that will allow users to perform cardless withdrawals using Touch ID, proving that the end of plastic cards is fast approaching.
Popular last-minute hotel booking app Hotel Tonight has announced this evening that it is making it even easier for iPhone users to quickly book hotels. In a press release, the company announced that it is updating its iOS with expanded support for Touch ID, which it says allows users to book hotels in “5 seconds flat.”
Hidden inside all of the changes that are coming with macOS Sierra are several notable additions to the developer side of things. On Apple’s API differences webpage, you can see several new resources that hint at potential features that could be coming with future Macs, including that OLED touch bar and Touch ID support.
As we approach Apple’s WWDC 2016 developer conference scheduled for June 13-17, there are more than a few reported in-development features and fixes that are likely candidates for stage time. An Apple Music revamp, Apple Pay updates, improvements for the App Store, and new features for HomeKit, Siri, and Apple News are just a few possibilities for Apple’s event next month. Below we roundup those features and much more as we take a look at the most likely new iPhone and iPad features in the works for iOS 10:
Earlier this year, we reported that Mac OS X 10.12 would bring Siri support as one of the tentpole features. Apple is likely to introduce the next big update to OS X in just a few weeks at its annual WWDC event, and now we’re learning a bit more about what the company has in store. A new report today brings to light the possibility that Apple could add Touch ID support to OS X with 10.12, as well.
Something that has been bugging me for some time is that my iPhone, normally unlocked with Touch ID, asks for my passcode way more often than it ought to. That mystery has now been solved by a bullet-point that Apple added to its iOS Security Guide earlier this month – though the behavior has been there a lot longer.
Previous versions of the document said that iOS devices should only ask Touch ID users for their passcode in one of five circumstances. I found I was frequently asked for my passcode when none of these applied, but a sixth, recently-added bullet-point explains it …
Concept image: Martin Hajek for Computer Bild
Concept designers have been creating renderings of bezel-free iPhones – where the display extends all the way to the edges of the phone – for years now. One major barrier to realizing this vision has, of course, been the Home button with its embedded Touch ID sensor.
Third-party companies have already developed transparent fingerprint sensors capable of being embedded into a smartphone display, and an Apple patent filed in March of last year but only published yesterday describes the exact same approach …