Why do you need a fingerprint on a smartphone. Comparison with Touch ID

Good day!

In September 2013, Apple introduced its new flagship smartphone iPhone 5s, where it implemented a new Touch ID feature, simply a biometric fingerprint scanner.

And, in fact, the biometric sensor in the iPhone 5s has given a new direction to the development of mobile technology. Newer Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One Max, and Fujitsu Arrows A, for example, have also followed Apple's lead by embedding biometric sensors into their phones for personal identification. But is this technology really that new?

Not really. The first phone with such a sensor was introduced back in 2004, already 10 years ago. Pantech GI100 was the pioneer of this technology.

All 10 fingers could be entered into the sensor and used for various kinds of authorization, for example, Secret Finger dail, when one of the secret numbers was called up when a certain finger was pressed. Also, the scanner could act as a kind of scroller, navigating through the menu. By the way, the model has not received mass distribution. After that, there were more similar solutions from other manufacturers, F901iC from the Japanese mobile operator Docomo, Pantech PG6200. The models turned out to be very niche, the then scenarios for using this feature were very narrow.

In early 2011, Motorola Atrix 4g was released, which was also equipped with the ability to read your “fingers”

Motorola's solution turned out to be quite interesting, because in addition to the main scanning function, the sensor was also a power off/wake up button. Doesn't it remind you of anything?

The potential turned out to be quite encouraging, as for me. After all, it was already a full-fledged smartphone with Android 2.2 on board (Updated to 2.3.6), a four-inch screen, a dual-core processor and a gigabyte of RAM. And with the SDK, it would be possible to write full-fledged programs, wherever the scanner would come in handy.

In general, phones with such a feature were just a demonstration of what technologies the manufacturer has. But everything has changed with Apple's quibble.

In the fall of 2013, Apple showed how implementation can affect attitudes towards technology. Introducing the iPhone 5s, they introduced the Touch ID function, and the decoding of the letter S was not long in coming. S stands for security.

The sensor is integrated into the Home button, the most convenient area to access it. The surface is covered with sapphire glass, which protects it from mechanical damage. Apple beats itself in vain with its heel in the chest, saying that all the user's biometric data is stored in the protected zone of the A7 chip, but we know what and how) The sensor allows you to unlock the smartphone and confirm the purchase in the App and iTunes Store, so far its capabilities are limited . With the help of a jailbreak, you can slightly expand the functionality. From my own experience, the scanner worked far from perfect until the release of iOS 7.1, in which they worked on its work, now it works in 9 out of 10 cases. And yet, the operation of the sensor depends on some factors, which is very sad. For example, contamination of the sensor, finger, or cut. The Apple mantra “it just works” isn’t exactly followed here, and sometimes you get to see such annoying messages.

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Hopefully, with the release of new models, the technology will improve.

February 24, 2014 Samsung introduced its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S5, which is also equipped with a scanner. It, in the likeness of a competitor, is built into the Home button, but due to the geometric features of the button, the finger must slide along the sensor strictly vertically, which is very inconvenient due to the dimensions of the smartphone.

Although Samsung makes it clear that with such a diagonal it is almost impossible to use a smartphone with one hand. What I liked about Samsung's implementation is that you can assign applications to launch for each finger separately (you can add 8 fingers to the database in total), as well as make purchases using PayPal, which seems to me a good feature in developed countries like the USA. What I did not like is that Samsung is silent about the availability of databases of these same fingerprints, which for the paranoid will be just a nightmare.

As a result, it turns out that a technology with a good deposit for the future is “reborn” right now. The main thing is a good, interesting implementation, this is the fundamental success factor. The future is moving towards us with leaps and bounds, and we should not run away from it.

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Modern smartphones, including budget Chinese models, have fingerprint scanners. With their help, you can unlock your mobile device with one touch. How to set up and effectively use this sensor in your smartphone, we will tell in this article.

How to turn on the fingerprint scanner on your smartphone

Initially, this unlocking feature in Android smartphones is turned off. To enable it, select Settings.

There we find the Lock screen and fingerprint.

Then open Fingerprint Management.

An attacker will not be able to enable this feature without your knowledge, even if an unlocked smartphone falls into his hands. Before removing information from the sensor, the system will request a pin code or password to unlock the phone.

Now select Add Fingerprint.

Here is a picture with a green checkmark on the screen that says everything went well.

The phone may ask you to touch the sensor several times to ensure a reliable shot.

From now on, you will be able to unlock your phone by touching the surface of the scanner with your finger.

If the fingerprint scanner on your smartphone did not work

According to user reviews, this malfunction occurs extremely rarely and most often has a certain removable cause. Try the following tips.

• The scanner does not work well with dirty and wet hands. Remove moisture and dirt from the sensor and finger surfaces.
• Turn off (lock) the phone with a short press on the button, and turn it on again after 5-7 seconds.
• Unlock the phone with a regular password and check the settings for working with the sensor from the Lock Screen according to the above algorithm. You may need to overwrite the prints again.
• There are rare cases when only resetting the device to factory settings can help.

To increase the reliability of the sensor, write pictures of five or all ten fingers to the device’s memory. If one does not work, show the phone the second.

How to unlock an app with your fingerprint

In addition to the phone itself, with the touch of a hand, you can block important applications from unauthorized access. To do this, you need to enable Application protection in the sensor settings.

Then you need to enable the standard Android app blocker using Settings. This is how this mode is enabled in Chinese Xiaomi phones. It's called Application Lock.

For each program, you can determine whether a password is required. The system automatically classifies the following as such confidential data: Contacts and phone, Gallery, Messages and Mail.

Now programs with a checkmark will open only when you present your finger or password (alternative unlock option).

By the way, for those who do not have such a sensor on their smartphone, Application Lock will also help. This mode supports a graphic key - a fairly reliable and easy-to-remember authorization method.

You can buy smartphones of Chinese brands with a fingerprint scanner in Novosibirsk in the SibDroid online store. For any questions about the rules for setting up and using it, please contact our professional managers

The fingerprint scanner has become a very advanced feature of most smartphones. Some users do not need it, while others want such a scanner built into their phone, as it has become very fashionable.

But how does such a scanner work? Does he have alternatives? Where did he even come from? We will try to answer this and other questions for you.

background

As many know, Apple was the first company to put a fingerprint scanner in their iPhone. Not really. The first phone that received such an addition was introduced back in 2004, which was called the Pantech GI100.

And then Apple introduces the new iPhone 5S, which has a fingerprint scanner built into the “Home” button. And then the digital world exploded. Apple pushed many manufacturers to include such a feature in their smartphones, and now the scanner can be found in most, not to mention the middle price segment and flagships.

How do scanners work in modern smartphones?

There are several types of scanners:

• Optical
• Semiconductor
• RF
• Ultrasonic
• Thermal scanners
• Scanner using the pressure method

We will not talk about all types, but we will only talk about those that are used in smartphones.

The simplest and cheapest to implement are optical scanners. If you describe the principle of its work in a nutshell, then it simply photographs the patterns of your finger. In such scanners, there are mainly CMOS and CCD sensors, which capture images. The best examples of such scanners have a resolution of 1200 dpi. But even it does not save from frequent mistakes.

The operation of optical scanners is greatly affected by factors such as contamination of the finger or the surface of the scanner. Skin damage also plays a role. Other than that, optical scanners are the easiest to fool.

Optical scanners are slowly being replaced by ultrasonic ones. They scan the surface of the finger with sound waves, and boast very high recognition speed and accuracy. Such scanners are not afraid of dirt, moisture, or damaged skin. And what is no less important - they are almost impossible to hack. Due to the good permeability of sound waves, the scanner can even be placed under the surface of the screen or under the cover of a smartphone.

But this is still in theory. At the moment, such scanners are still raw and not particularly tested by the manufacturer. At the end of 2016, only 3 smartphones were equipped with ultrasonic scanners, one of which was Xiaomi Mi 5S version 4/128.

How to hack fingerprint scanner?

Since we started talking about security, let's talk about how you can hack a fingerprint scanner.

The first, and most banal way, is to take a photo and print it on an inkjet printer, and then attach it to a scanner. True, this method only works with the first generation of optical scanners. To bypass newer ones, an additional step is required - creating a cast of silicone. This method allows you to bypass 99% of scanners. Even the laudatory IPhone could not resist him.

Hackers from the German association House Computer Club have long described the process of hacking through the creation of a silicone cast. But it is worth noting that in this way it is not yet possible to deceive the ultrasound scanner, since during the scan it also reads the owner's pulse and can distinguish a real finger from a silicone imitation.

Well, in the end, you can just take your finger and put it on the scanner while you sleep. Even ultrasonic sensors are not immune from this type of hacking.

Where are the fastest and most accurate scanners?

Manufacturers often boast at their presentations that their devices recognize a fingerprint in a matter of seconds and that their device is the fastest on the market. But often this is not always the case.

There are three really good smartphones in which fingerprint scanners have proved to be worthy.

Zuk Z1. At one time, the work of his scanner was striking in its lightning speed. Sometimes he even did the second generation of Apple's Touch ID, which shocked the owners of the iPhone 6S and 6S +.

Another very cool scanner is in Xiaomi Mi5. It works even faster than in the previous smartphone, and the percentage of successful recognitions is much higher.

But the fastest and clearest scanner so far is . The device reads the finger and unlocks it just instantly. The scanner works just incredible - 10 out of 10. Yes, and it reacts to touch right out of the box perfectly, without any.

Is there a replacement for fingerprint scanners?

A good alternative to fingerprint scanners is the irido scanner. In other words, an iris scanner. It is good because you do not have to have direct contact with the gadget.

Let's say your hands are busy with something, or something is very dirty, so much so that even an ultrasound scanner cannot recognize your prints. In this case, as well as possible, an iridoscanner will do. It just counts the pattern from your iris at a distance and that's it.

Smartphones with such a biometric sensor began to appear on the Asian market in 2015. The Japanese and Chinese represented by ZTE, Viewsonic and Vivo have already tested this technology in their home markets. On the global stage, the technology should have made its debut in the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, but we all know where it is right now. Although the implementation of the iridoscanner in Note 7 itself was close to ideal. Thanks to infrared illumination, it worked even in the dark. And it was impossible to deceive him by slipping a photo of the owner's eye, since the sensor read not only the pattern of the iris, but also monitored the user's temperature.

Conclusion

Finally, I would like to advise a small life hack: in order for the scanner to better recognize the fingerprint, enter the same fingerprint into the system twice. Then the percentage of hits will increase.

Well, in addition to conventional fingerprint scanners, we will wait for the massive introduction of iridoscanners into smartphones, because this is an even bigger breakthrough in the mobile industry. While it's unlikely that such a feature will start at $70, it's possible Samsung's next flagships will get this addition.

Officially, support for the fingerprint scanner appeared in Android 6.0, but until now, many users perceive it only as a means to unlock the smartphone. Meanwhile, the scanner can be used to press the home or back buttons, open the shutter, take pictures with the camera, launch applications, protect passwords, SMS, photos and bank accounts. And if you know how to use Tasker, you can assign almost any action to the fingerprint scanner.

Let's make a reservation right away that this article will focus on smartphones based on Android 6.0, in which the fingerprint scanner and access to it are implemented in accordance with Google's requirements. Only such smartphones allow third-party applications to use the scanner for their own purposes. Chinese and some other smartphones with a fingerprint scanner and Android 5.0 / 5.1 will not work, because although they support unlocking a smartphone with a touch of a finger, they do not have an API with which third-party software could use it.

1. We hang on the scanner the button "Home", "Back" or any other

Probably the most useful use that you can think of for a fingerprint scanner is to hang one of the hardware or on-screen buttons on it, be it "Home", "Back" or "Browse". All this allows you to make a Fingerprint Quick Action application.

Install the application, put a tick in front of the item "Allow Fingerprint Quick Action". The "Spec. features" in which you need to find the application and enable it. Then you can set one of many actions to single, double tap or swipe on the scanner, including the Back and Home buttons, as well as Turn off the screen, Show notification panel (as in Google Pixel), Split screen (for simultaneous launch of two applications in Android 7.0) and others.

Keep in mind that the double-tap and swipe functions are experimental, and therefore work very badly (in fact, they do not work). It should be limited to only a single click.

2. Launch applications

The same Fingerprint Quick Action allows you to launch applications using the scanner. This can be very convenient if you most often use your smartphone, for example, to chat on Telegram/WhatsApp or make calls. So access to the phone or messenger will always be at hand.

You can select an application in the same way as assigning a button. You need to scroll through the list of actions to the very end and select Launch app or shortcut (yes, the application is not fully translated), then the Single tap app or shortcut item will appear in the main application window. Here you can select an application.

3. Protect applications

Using the fingerprint scanner, you can not only run, but also protect applications. To do this, you can use App Lock - an application that allows you to block access to selected applications using a PIN code, pattern or fingerprint.

It is very easy to use it. We launch the application, turn on “Unlock with a fingerprint”, then enter either a PIN or a pattern (here it is called a pattern), skip the screen asking you to enter an email, on the next screen go to settings, select App Lock, activate and return. A list of applications will appear on the next screen. To enable protection, just activate the switch opposite the application name. Now, when you try to launch the application, you will be asked to bring your finger to the scanner.

However, you should not take App Lock as a really serious protection. All you have to do to get around it is either kill the App Lock process or delete the app. So it's more of a protection from children or simply technically illiterate users who may have a smartphone in their hands.

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Modern fingerprint scanners can be found in literally all smartphones, and the manufacturers themselves do not get tired of saying that the current biometric technologies can be not only practical for every person, but they are also quite safe. But is this really the case?

In fact, this statement is somewhat erroneous, since the sensors provided are not fully improved and accurate in their work. Capacitive scanner types do not cope well with fingerprint recognition if hands are wet, since the device functions with certain interference in high humidity, and for the smartphone itself, these are far from the most favorable conditions. The quality of fingerprint recognition can also be affected by such parameters as the presence of scars, damage and scratches on the finger.

Some devices, due to the fact that they are not fully improved and developed, cannot distinguish a real fingerprint from a cast, so this aspect negatively affects the security created during use.

Experts say that the situation may change if Qualcomm actively and fruitfully work on the creation of a new ultrasound system for fingerprint recognition. Thanks to careful design, the impression cannot be presented as a fingerprint, and even if your hands are wet, this will not be a problem for an innovative device. But still there are other certain threats.

The difficulty of introducing the new into the old

New technologies always face the same problem: it is not enough just to install something new and technologically advanced in the gadget, because it must also be balanced so that problems and inconveniences are not created during operation. But this is not possible for all creators, and not immediately, since it requires constant consideration of the technical component of the gadget itself, in which the novelty will be used. In the summer of 2015, there was even a case where there was an attempt to steal fingerprints remotely and on an industrial scale.

It is enough for an attacker to use your photo

Experts in this field of activity also managed to find out that the HTC One Max and Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphones store all received fingerprints in the form of images on a separate file server in the form of absolutely unprotected material, and besides, it has the format of a regular picture. Simply put, in this case, there is no specialized protection aimed at safe use without the possibility of theft. As a result of all this, any application that requests access to your information on the phone can also access fingerprints.

In addition, many smartphones have a scanning sensor, which is not protected enough by itself, which can cause certain problems during use. For example, a virus on a mobile phone can independently read fingerprints directly from the sensor.

As for Apple products, here the developers were able to better cope with all the tasks, since a data encryption program is also installed, so attackers will not be able to read the information for their own use, and thus provide high-quality protection, reliability and user friendliness . The only way to read fingerprints is to use a special cryptographic key.

Of course, the manufacturers of the Android operating system are trying to develop additional patches for the fingerprint scanning program, but at the same time, there are absolutely no guarantees that there will be no additional problems when updates for the OS are released.

The statement that the fingerprinting program is not a password, because it cannot be spied on, accidentally transferred to some other person, or simply forgotten, does not correspond to reality in practice, and many situations are provided to confirm this.

Last year, specialists in the field of mobile and innovative technologies even clearly imagined that it was very easy to steal a fingerprint, and, moreover, excluding contact with the person himself. How to do it? It is enough just to have a picture of the palm, where the lines are clearly visible. By the way, this method can also be used when hacking the system, at the base of which is the protection of the iris of the eyeball.

Of course, over time, the device will be improved and modified, but at the moment there are more than enough shortcomings, so you need to use the device carefully.

1. Try to completely exclude the use of a biometric scanner for authorization in banking applications and in services for conducting money transactions. This may not be safe. At the moment, the phone is with you, but tomorrow a thief can steal it and use your data. It will simply copy your fingerprints from your phone and make a purchase of something expensive at your expense. Find out the password, if, of course, you know how to use it correctly, it is much more difficult.
2. Most users use their thumb or index finger for authorization. This is not correct, although it is convenient. Wrong because, if your phone falls into the hands of an attacker, it will not be difficult for him to make a fake fingerprint of your fingers, with which the entire body of your phone is “slammed”. Therefore, use the ring finger or little finger of the left hand for the fingerprint scanner, use the right hand for left-handed people.
3. To reliably protect the data on your device, one fingerprint scanner will not be enough. If security is your priority, install special software on your device with a built-in Anti-Theft function (almost all modern antiviruses for mobile devices are equipped with this function).