touch id

Apple has incorporated biometric authentication into the iPhone since the 5s, when Touch ID was introduced. Last year, thanks to the TrueDepth camera that's able to map 3D surfaces, the iPhone X included a brand-new feature called Face ID. iPhone X owners who've set up FaceID can use the feature to unlock their devices, as well as pay for purchases in the iTunes store, Apple Books, the App Store, and to make payments with Apple Pay. Although this feature does add significant convenience to the iPhone experience, many Face ID users have complained that only one person can be registered per device, as opposed to the five different fingerprints that could be set up in Touch ID. It looks as though this issue may be solved with iOS 12, though, because the Beta version gives users the opportunity to register an Alternative Appearance upon setting up Face ID. 

Enabling Touch ID for use in apps means that you can lock apps with your fingerprint on your iPhone and iPad. Using Touch ID as an app locker allows you to protect sensitive information such as private documents or personal finance information, instead of setting a password that you might forget. However, other apps such as Facebook don’t allow you to use a fingerprint lock. Once you have Touch ID enabled on your iPhone, you can use your fingerprint to open the Touch ID apps of your choosing. We’ll go over how to set up Touch ID apps below. We’ll also cover which popular apps are Touch ID apps and which ones offer the fingerprint lock screen feature. Since setting up a fingerprint lock on your iPhone often requires a passcode, we'll also cover how to put a password on apps. Here’s how to lock apps on your smartphone or tablet. 

Shortly before his death, Steve Jobs told his biographer, Walt Isaacson, that he had "cracked" the code to better television. At the time, the technology behind such a solution was thought to be Siri. Thanks to voice commands, a user could speak to an Apple TV or a remote control and access content. This could be a lot more user friendly than the endless ugly grids displayed by Time Warner and other cable providers. However, a series of Apple patents unveiled recently point to another technology that could make the TV viewing experience better.

While Apple loves to design away buttons and keep things as simple as possible, the Home button takes up a lot of space on the iPhone. But when Apple incorporated Touch ID into the Home button, it looked unlikely that this button would ever be designed away.