Biometric authentication really took off when a fingerprint sensor was added to a phone. But, we’ve now moved way beyond that and are using our eyes and faces to unlock our devices. Google has noticed this shift in trend and debuted a new API that supports face, iris, and in-display fingerprint scanners with Android P beta.
To simplify the authentication process, Google has replaced FingerprintDialog API that was added in the first Android P developer preview with a modern BiometricPrompt API. This has been designed to offer you a standard authentication experience, thus, eliminating the need for five different authentications dialogs for five different phones.
Google has streamlined the whole process, especially on the developer end, by cutting down the implementation to a single ‘USE_BIOMETRIC’ permission. This covers every biometric sensor available on the device, so developers won’t need to specify a task for each one individually. This should also theoretically make apps more secure as they would no longer need to rely on third-party APIs from OEMs for each authentication method, which great increases development overheads.
The introduction of this API shows that Google is keen on embracing the various technologies at play for Face Unlock as well as Iris and Fingerprint sensors. With the unified, system-wide biometric experience logging into apps and completing purchases across apps should be far smoother on Android P.
The Android P beta has given us a snapshot of the AI-laden future of Google’s products, which is looking promising, to say the least. What’s your favorite feature in Android P? Share your thoughts with us in the comments down below.
