Chapter 28
Using Touch ID and Face ID For Authentication
With the debut of iPhone X in late 2017, iOS now supports two types of authentication mechanism: Touch ID and Face ID.
Let's first talk about the Touch ID.
Touch ID is Apple's biometric fingerprint authentication technology, which was first seen on the iPhone 5s in 2013. As of today, the feature is available on most iOS devices including iPhones and iPads. Touch ID is built into the home button and very simple to use. Once the steel ring surrounding the home button detects your finger, the Touch ID sensor immediately reads your fingerprint, analyses it, and provides you access to your phone.
Along with the release of iPhone X in November 2017, Apple began to move away from Touch ID to Face ID, which uses your face for authentication. By simply glancing at your iPhone, Face ID securely unlocks the device.
Quick note:To learn more about Face ID, you can refer to this link.Similar to Touch ID, you can also use this new authentication mechanism to authorize purchases from the App Store and payments with Apple Pay. Security and privacy are the two biggest concerns for the fingerprint sensor and the Face ID data. According to Apple, your device does not store any images of your fingerprints; the scan of your fingerprint is translated into a mathematical representation, which is encrypted and stored in the Secure Enclave system on chip (SoC). The fingerprint data is used by the Secure Enclave only for fingerprint verifications; even the iOS itself has no way of accessing the fingerprint data. To safeguard the Face ID data, which is a mathematical representation of your face, Apple applied the same way they did with Touch ID. The Face ID data is encrypted and protected by the Security Enclave.
Quick note:To learn more about Secure Enclave, you can refer to the Apple's Platform Security document.
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