How does the Iris Scanner work?

[cohoman]

How does the iris scanner work when unlocking a phone? Can I hold the phone at a normal distance from my face and the phone's camera or sensor scans my eye? I'm just wondering if you need to do something crazy like hold your phone up close to your eye to unlock your phone, or if the entire process takes too long versus using a thumb print scan.

 

[Jaycemiskel]

You hold it at a normal distance, it scans your eye, and it lets you in. Depending on the angle you may have to open your eyes just a little bit wider but it's usually pretty quick if you set it up right.

 

[Matty]

Great question cohoman!

I'm no expect in this but here is how i understand it. (simple)

If we take the Galaxy Note 7 (RIP) as an example, it has one front facing camera dedicated only to recognizing the composition of your eyes. There is also an infrared light, which is used to make the scanner work in low light situations or in situations where the camera needs a little more detail. Obviously in pitch darkness it wouldn't work. .

Samsung did note that your eyes need to be fully 'Open' and you should not wear glasses or hold the phone to far away from your face otherwise the camera may not be able to properly record your eye. Obviously i have no idea about the software behind it, but thats essentially what the hardware does as fas as i understand it

 

[cohoman]

I found a video which showed how someone would unlock their Samsung Note 7 using the iris scanner feature. They needed to hold their phone near their face and align their eyes to match an image displayed at the top of the screen. This definitely seemed to take longer than my current fingerprint scanner on my S7. If the S8 works the same way, then I'll most likely never use that feature. If that is the case, then the rear fingerprint scanner better work as easy as my S8 or I'll just have to skip the S8 upgrade and possibly go with a different phone.

 

[Halloweenoreo]

I had the N7 and used my iris scanner daily. Never had any issues.

You don't have to have it super close to your face. I held it at a normal distance as I would texting/surfing ect and unlocks fairly quick. Have contacts and with them in or using my glasses worked flawlesy and quicker than the finger scanner IMO. Only time it would be fussy is if in a dark room due to not enough light for it to recognize the iris.

But I think it's just like your finger print scanner, if you don't get a great scan it won't work the best and have to try multiple times before it is unlocks.

Hope that helps answer your question.

 

[ol_jackburton]

I found a video which showed how someone would unlock their Samsung Note 7 using the iris scanner feature. They needed to hold their phone near their face and align their eyes to match an image displayed at the top of the screen. This definitely seemed to take longer than my current fingerprint scanner on my S7. If the S8 works the same way, then I'll most likely never use that feature. If that is the case, then the rear fingerprint scanner better work as easy as my S8 or I'll just have to skip the S8 upgrade and possibly go with a different phone.

also had the note 7 and it worked well. i wear glasses and it work about half the time even with my glasses on.

 

[jasonandrews25788]

In my opinion using the fingerprint sensor is way better as you can unlock the phone during picking it up out of your pocket without the need to center it in front of your face.