Make a Payment with the Blink of an Eye

Fingerprints and selfies aren’t the only biometric ways to make a payment. Now, some consumers can pay by phone with a simple scan of their eye, reports Digital Transactions.

Recently, Delta ID Inc., a California-based company announced that its ActiveIRIS technology is powering the iris scanner built into Fujitsu’s latest smartphone. (Fujitsu is a multinational information technology equipment and services company that’s headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.)

Through this technology, the iris in the eyes serves as a unique and secret “password” that consumers never have to remember. Users simply look at their device to unlock it, make a payment or log into an application.

“Iris scanners are an extremely popular feature in Fujitsu-manufactured smartphones,” Katsumi Takada, president, Fujitsu Connected Technologies Limited, said in a statement. “We are impressed by the significant enhancements in usability and reliability in the latest version of Delta ID’s ActiveIRIS technology.”

During testing, the new iris scanner had a 99.7% success rate indoors and an above 90% success rate outdoors in bright sunlight, reports Digital Transactions.

Currently, the iris scanner is found only on high-end devices, but eventually that will shift.

Is Iris-Scanning for Payment Secure?

Security is one of the hallmarks of iris-scanning technology, but some people still wonder: What if your biometric data is stolen?

Smartphone vendors, however, combat this potential threat by keeping biometric data within the device and never posting it online. It’s encrypted information and there is no online repository of credentials for hackers to raid, Brett McDowell, executive director of the FIDO Alliance told Computerworld.

How Realistic Is Iris-Scanning?

While iris-scanning for payment seems great in theory, it may not take off for quite some time. According to a U.S. Federal Reserve survey taken in 2015, 75% of respondents say they don’t use mobile payments because they feel it’s easier to pay with cash or card. Nearly 60% of participants were concerned about security and privacy.

However, research analysts speculate that the rollout of chip cards may eventually boost interest in mobile payments.

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