Biometric authentication for mobile apps is a part of multi-factor authentication. Just like two-factor authentication through a mobile phone number or email ID, biometric authentication aims at verifying the identity of an individual that tries to access a mobile application. It can be facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, iris scan, or speech recognition or it can be a combination of two or more of these factors. If the authentication system is fido certified, it will be highly beneficial for your business because your app business will be more credible and reliable. Once you have installed a biometric authentication system on your application, you can gradually eliminate the password verification system.
Consumer-oriented use
One use of biometric authentication is that it should be consumer-oriented. Mobile biometric authentication is generally used for e-commerce or internet banking. Customers can authenticate transactions that generally originate from retail applications or internet banking by using voice or face biometrics. Different companies leverage biometrics for the authentication process to facilitate consumers.
Native or In-app biometric authentication
The market is now replete with mobile phones that have built-in biometric authentication sensors for facial recognition or fingerprint recognition. Some have simple software that does the job. You can use these authentication services to unlock your device or to log in on the apps or to make purchases. However, for retailers and banks, this is not enough. They cannot rely on that so they have to create a specialized feature for their apps that verifies the user. If they include biometric authentication in their apps, they are better positioned to offer their users better security and to allow themselves to customize different security performances and features.
Multimodel biometric authentication
This type of biometric authentication revolves around multiple biometric modalities for multifactor authentication. The general implementation of these models will reduce the chances of a false positive without complicating user experience.
You can leverage multimodal biometrics in several ways. How you use it will depend on user preference and also the choice to prioritize security and convenience. Here is a rundown of the approaches to use multimodel biometrics.
- You can use them interchangeably. Users can choose which type of modality they need to use. They might prefer using voice recognition when they are driving. This will facilitate a hands-free authentication process. However, in all other scenarios, the authentication can be through face or fingerprints. This increases the cost but also offers the users ease of use.
- There can be installed more than one biometric modalities. In this type of model, a user has to go through multiple authentications for a single login or use. It can be a combination of facial recognition and fingerprints.
- You also can install two models simultaneously. You can capture the two modalities and try to improve security with the lowest impact on ease-of-use.
- You can also keep it optional so that users pre-selects which modality they have to use for the applications. They must stick to the modality.
So, the options for integrating biometric authentication into your app are endless. It is up to you how you approach these models to make your app more secure.
