On Screen Embedded Touch ID

December 28, 2015 09:25 EST • Alexandre Vallières-Lagacé • 2 minute read • Permalink

There is a discussion between Craig Mod, Federico Viticci and Dr. Drang regard the speed of the new Touch ID. I, like Federico and Dr. Drang, would prefer a better and faster Touch ID than slowing it down so I can grasp the lock screen information.

Despite the annoyance of my Lock screen being dismissed by the faster Touch ID on the 6s, I think the trade-off is worth it. The number of times I was glad my iPhone unlocked quickly have, in my experience, outweighed the disruption caused by having to re-open Notification Center to view my missed notifications.

For the first time Apple is breaking a near decade old habit of using the Home button to wake from sleep and forcing us to use the lock button instead. We could use either before Touch ID 2, but now each button will have to stay true to its very one feature: Home brings back to springboard and Lock locks/unlocks the device. I hear you, it’s a habit change I’m just getting used to…

Touch ID 2 is the single best feature for the 6s generation, it’s advantages on speed and accuracy outweigh the habit change they require by a factor or 1000!

Then Federico continues on suggesting that Touch ID should be embedded directly in the screen and I agree with him. However, I don’t think it can be embedded everywhere as the Touch ID sensor is not minuscule and would require a lot more thickness than Apple is ready to give. I do see it embedded to the left or right of the Home button, on a very specific region. If I remember correctly the metal ring is there just to detect conductivity when a finger (or nose) is applied? The same thing is done by modern touchscreen so we would ready for a region being declared Touch ID on the iPhone 7?

I hope so!