Why did Samsung make the fingerprint sensor on the S-5 so crappy compared to the 5s?

[gotluck]

Yup you got it

I was admittedly confused at first, but now I see what you're saying and that thread clears it up.

its actually pretty cool how apple blackballed any ability to prohibit employees from using touchid, I would hope android does the same.

 

[jrswizzle]

its actually pretty cool how apple blackballed any ability to prohibit employees from using touchid, I would hope android does the same.

It would completely defeat its purpose for those in an enterprise situation if TouchID didn't satisfy the passcode requirement....and Apple has made big pushes into enterprise.

Plus it works to keep TouchID secure by putting tight restrictions on timeframe, false scans and restarts to require the passcode.

You still have to use a complex passcode for those backup situations, but TouchID is SO much more convenient.

 

[gotluck]

It would completely defeat its purpose for those in an enterprise situation if TouchID didn't satisfy the passcode requirement....and Apple has made big pushes into enterprise.

Well, less bold and non heavyweight OEM's would probably leave an option in for the exchange admin to disable, but you know how Apple is about choice . In this case though, agreed it is best.

 

[kdarling]

Personally I think:

- phone keeps my fingerprint in what's practically a hardware fort.

- phone keeps my fingerprint in what's practically a software fort and occasionally sends off some hash of my fingerprint to a company with a reputation for having terrible business tactics.

One of these make me sleep better at night.

Sounds like your sleep was threatened by incorrect info

There is no phone that sends user fingerprint data anywhere.

Certainly not Samsung phones, which first had a secure enclave starting back with the GS3.

As far as being able to use TouchID to access other things, at this point in time it can only be used to unlock the device and authenticate your AppleID password for iTunes and App Store purchases. It's been discussed A LOT in this thread, but there are various reasons for this - the main one being the unavailability of the fingerprint data to anyone - even to Apple. It's stored in a secure enclave within the A7 chip itself and isn't made available to the OS.

All that the OS / app needs to know is if the print is authorized by the enclave section or not.

In other words, there's absolutely no reason why the print sensor cannot be used to lock down anything we wanted ... apps, files, purchases, whatever.

It's just a matter of Apple getting around to supporting its use by other parts of the OS or by apps.

--

My question is: are there any legal barriers to doing so? For example, if the sensor API accidentally let another user (or a fake finger) buy $1,000 of something, would the provider of the authorization device be liable?

Obviously Apple is willing to take a hit with iTunes purchases, and Samsung must've made a similar deal with PayPal where mistakes are somehow covered (as with credit cards). But how much further in risks are each company willing to go? Or perhaps the risk of a false positive is calculated to be low enough.

 

[jrswizzle]

Sounds like your sleep was threatened by incorrect info

There is no phone that sends user fingerprint data anywhere.

Certainly not Samsung phones, which first had a secure enclave starting back with the GS3.



All that the OS / app needs to know is if the print is authorized by the enclave section or not.

In other words, there's absolutely no reason why the print sensor cannot be used to lock down anything we wanted ... apps, files, purchases, whatever.

It's just a matter of Apple getting around to supporting its use by other parts of the OS or by apps.

My question is: are there any legal barriers to doing so? For example, if a sensor accidentally let another user (or a fake finger) buy $1,000 of something, would Apple as provider of the authorization device be liable?

Hmm - interesting question. Given what they've gotten into with IAPs, I would have to say yes to a degree.

I think Apple just takes its time with stuff like this. The sensor is only on one device - at this point likely somewhere around 10-15% of the iOS landscape (60-70 million iPhone 5S's versus 600+ million iOS devices).

From the payment standpoint, they'll wait until they have the solution fully built out. From the unlocking of apps/OS stuff standpoint, I think they're just being purposefully slow with it due to security reasons. And I can't fault them for that.

Like I said - it works perfectly as it was advertised. More features and functionality are extremely welcome and hoped for. But for now, I just wish I had the damn thing on my iPad and 5C....hate the stupid 4-digit code more than ever!