What is Iris Scanner?

You have probably seen a lot of action movies where iris scanner is used to unlock some highly secured facility. Now, you can use the same technology to access your precious possession - your smartphone and information stored within.

Why iris scanner?

Smartphone security was always one of the crucial issues for all users, but nowadays when our entire lives go mobile we need some quite sophisticated methods to make it safe. Classical patterns and pins are not enough anymore. So, the next logical step was to move on to biometric security. [caption id="attachment_8417" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Iris scanner in action[/caption] The first step toward such a safety mechanism is the fingerprint scanner. It was introduced by Apple and iPhone 5S back in 2013, and it has passed a long way since then. Today most of the flagship phones have one of these. Unfortunately, it turns out that they are not that comfortable to use and that they are not that secured either. Don't be afraid, it is not that easy to crack your fingerprints, it's just not as safe as we hoped at first. The next logical step was to move on to the next level of biometric security and reach for the iris scanner. The technology behind the iris scanner is around for a quite some time, and it's not something new. But, it is new in the mobile world. Iris scanner became a buzzword in the last couple of months when rumors about new Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5 phones started. The two new phones have iris scanner built in, and that is just one of the things that make them so appealing. But, it also starts a new trend in among smartphones.

Technology behind iris scanner

As we already said, the technology behind the iris scanner is available for quite some time. It is used for secure authentication of identity when accessing highly sensitive data (it sounds like the Minority Report, but it's true). [caption id="attachment_8416" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Camera captures the pattern of your iris[/caption] Two types of iris scanning sensors are available: - the one that scans the iris pattern of the eye. Our organism usually finishes the job of forming this pattern by the age of two, and it remains the same and unique till the rest of the life. In this sensor infrared LED and infrared camera are making a high quality “flash” photo of your eye. Each time you want to use your phone you need to scan your eyes and if the pattern is matching your phone will be unlocked. - the one that scans the blood vessels pattern from the white part of the eye. It works in the quite similar way as the scanner above, but it usually does not have LED to flash the eye. It makes a high-quality image of your eye vessels, and it makes a comparison each time you want to unlock your phone. As you can see both sensors are using the similar technique to create a high-quality image of your eye and use it as the original pattern. Both methods are biometrically secured, and they are quite safe for you and your eyes.

Was iris scanner applied on a smartphone before?

If you thought that Samsung and LG were the first ones to came up with the idea to put iris scanner on a phone, you're wrong. They are just the ones with the best advertising machinery. Iris scanner is already available on some smartphones, and you'll be surprised when you hear about these phones. Here are some quite good phones, who are not that popular, where you can already use iris scanner: - Fujitsu Arrow NX f-04G - surprisingly good phone from Fujitsu. It was created for the Japanese market, and this is the main reason you probably haven’t heard of it before. It has iris scanner with infrared LED, and besides that it has quite impressive specs (starting with octa-core Snapdragon 810 and IPS LCD of 5.2 inches). - Microsoft (Lumia) 950 and 950 XL - first Windows 10 phone with desktop-like features was released in October last year. It wasn’t quite successful as people from Microsoft would want it to be and it will not bring Windows phones back to live (unfortunately), but it is still quite a good phone. And it has iris scanner with an infrared camera and LED nicely wrapped up. So, if you want to be more secure, and you are a Windows fan, this is an excellent choice for you! [caption id="attachment_8418" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Phone won't let you in if it can't recognize you.[/caption]

- Vivo X5Pro - Vivo, a company from China, is making this phone that was released back in May 2015. And it has iris scanner ever since. It works with blood vessel patterns, and it is not that quality and fast as the one that Fuji and Microsoft are using, so it may take some time to complete initial scanning as well as to unlock your phone. But, it still works quite good. - ZTE Grand S3 - another telecommunication giant from China has created a phone with an iris scanner. This is quite a nice package that is much affordable than any of the devices mentioned above. It is not exactly a budget phone, but it will save you a couple of hundreds of euros and provide you with some decent features. - Alcatel Idol 3 - the cheapest phone from the list can be yours in up to 300 euros. It uses the same scanning sensor as Vivo and ZTE, so you will not have the prime quality, but you will have the prime security. Yes, this is a budget phone, but it is one of the best in the class.

Iris scanner - new big thing or just a fling?

We believe that it is a next big thing that is here to stay. The new addition to the biometric security is actually a great thing for phone safety in general because it makes the industry more aware of security issues. Fingerprint scanners are far from done, and they will not be replaced with the iris scanners entirely. There will still be a lot of phones that are using fingerprint scanners, and even face recognition in years to come. And when we add up iris scanner to the mix we are getting quite a diversity of methods that we can choose to keep our data safe. And that is quite an excellent news for all of us! Images from: Sales Initiative, Windows Central, The Guardian