iPhone 5S Fingerprint Scanner

iPhone 5S Finger print scanner assembly

We all acknowledge that smartphones are today's computers. You may be using yours to Whats App or Play Real Racing but some folks out there including folks in the US Department of Defense use them for more classified things.


First off, let's get one thing straight There is no security option out there that is 100% secure. Everything has its flaws and often the best way to be secure is to use multiple options at once. Most common options include passwords or passcodes and biometric scanners which scan your fingerprint or your retina (eye).

Fake Finger print scanning app

Smartphones have been dreaming of a functional finger print scanner for a long time now. This is a dream that forced many developers to come up with apps that mimic a finger print scanner. These apps, if used wisely can actually be very convincing to the average Joe.

Today we are however going to be talking about the finger print scanner embedded within the home button of the iPhone 5S which Apple calls Touch ID. Yes folks this is a real fingerprint scanner. Apple has finally solved the biggest problem faced by the unfaithful men among us. Trust me, your wife will never hack this lock unless of course she works for the NSA, FBI or MI6.





Touch ID is a new feature available on the iPhone 5S. This enables the user to login by simply placing the finger onto the home button. The feature can also be used with some apps such as iTunes to authenticate payments and other logins. It will probably be used to allow logins to email and all sorts of social networks.
It is capable of reading your finger no matter the phone orientation.

So how does the iPhone 5S Fingerprint scanner work?

Scanner hardware under Home button

Touch ID in the iPhone 5S is made possible by a chip that is placed under the Home button. This cheap uses capacitance technology to scan the inner layer of the skin (sub-epidermal skin layer). This layer is electrically conductive so when you touch the iPhone’s fingerprint sensor, it measures the minuscule differences in conductivity caused by the raised parts of your fingerprint, and it uses those measurements to form an image.



This technology is more secure than optical scanners which can even be fooled with a good photocopy of a finger print.

The iPhone stores the finger print but not as an image. It is stored as encrypted code which is never backed up on cloud for safety.

So with that said, feel free to share with us about which security idea you would like in the next Gen smartphones. Hollywood ideas are also accepted. After all Fiction leads to fact. Tell us if you are impressed by this new piece of innovation and if not , why? Leave your comment at the bottom.