LOL So much for Apple's touch ID "security"

[Eug]

I have a second video going up right now that has a redo of the PIN in correct orientation (FINE, EUG!)

w00t!

P.S. It's especially annoying on the RAZR HD since there is no physical home button. So, you have to reach up to the power button first, and then type in the passcode, which for me is annoying one-handed because I find the phone somewhat too big.

 

[Red Storm]

Honestly, Red, I think it'd depend on the Android phone (my RAZR HD isn't exactly as fast as a SGS4 or a HTC One or something) but Touch ID comes pretty close to the speed not having an unlock screen.

I think if I was rolling with no lock screen I'd be really tempted to switch to Touch ID as you basically hit the power button anyways and just hold your finger on the button for another moment. Would be better than nothing at all, IMO.

No lock screen is fastest, let's not try and argue against that.

You don't need to hold your finger on anything, you just press the button and you're there. Touch ID is definitely faster than a passcode, but I still see the slight delay, and when you're out and about moving around you're more likely to get a failed attempt I would think. I'd rank them in this order in terms of speed:

1. No lock screen
2. Touch ID
3. Pattern
4. Passcode

 

[Eug]

1. No lock screen
2. Touch ID
3. Pattern
4. Passcode

That sounds about right.

However, to restate the obvious, only #1 has no security.

 

[bearxor]

No lock screen is fastest, let's not try and argue against that.

You don't need to hold your finger on anything, you just press the button and you're there. Touch ID is definitely faster than a passcode, but I still see the slight delay, and when you're out and about moving around you're more likely to get a failed attempt I would think. I'd rank them in this order in terms of speed:

1. No lock screen
2. Touch ID
3. Pattern
4. Passcode

I'm not arguing that it's not. I just said that it's coming pretty close. And that, in my opinion, I don't see a practical difference between Touch ID and not having a lock screen. I'm trying to do these methods just as fast as I can by holding the devices properly and setting really easy to do patterns and passcodes so that I can do them as fast as possible.

Again, I think it's going to depend on your actual device. Newer phones I'm sure will kick on faster than my RAZR HD. And it depends on how well Touch ID reads your fingerprint. I've had Touch ID sometimes work so fast that I barely even see the clock before it's going to the home screen.

 

[Eug]

I think the hardware encryption built into the A7 (via ARM v8) likely is responsible for the speed. I suspect it would have been significantly slower on the A6, making it unfeasible for the lock screen on the iPhone 5, although I'm just guessing based on the phone feature set and CPU design choice.

 

[ponyo]

TouchID is really good and fast. Faster than pin or pattern unlock for me. It occasionally fails but same can happen if you use pattern or pin and mistype. I rarely used any security lock on my Android devices other than swipe to unlock because of the hassle but I'm using the TouchID because it's so convenient. Apple got this right.

 

[bearxor]

Updated video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2hZ6qFHCTE

 

[seepy83]

Honestly, the arguments concerning speed are a little ridiculous. You're talking about the difference of somewhere between fractions of 1 second and at most 2 or 3 seconds.
Is TouchID faster? Yes.
Is TouchID more secure? No.

Security and convenience are always at odds with eachother. TouchID tips the scale in favor of convenience over security.

 

[openwheel]

Looks like you were proven wrong. I guess it was a good thing that you didn't take bets.

LOL you do realize that you cannot dis-prove that I can do passcode faster than TouchID, right?

It is not only ridiculous to claim one is faster than the other, it's almost impossible to prove one way or another unless there is a blind test with at least a few hundred tries. A couple videos from known Apple advocators never have any credibility, same if I upload a video showing passcode being faster than TouchID.

In the end, it's all he say she say when it comes to "convenience", but the topic of this thread is still security which is TouchID is not an improvement, but a redundant gimmick.

 

[bearxor]

LOL you do realize that you cannot dis-prove that I can do passcode faster than TouchID, right?

Then do it. Please. I'd be genuinely curious.

 

[Eug]

Honestly, the arguments concerning speed are a little ridiculous. You're talking about the difference of somewhere between fractions of 1 second and at most 2 or 3 seconds.
Is TouchID faster? Yes.
Is TouchID more secure? No.

Security and convenience are always at odds with eachother. TouchID tips the scale in favor of convenience over security.

That's a pretty good summary.

However, that's why I mentioned the A7's hardware encryption. I'm thinking they maybe couldn't implement this until the 5S not just because of the scanning hardware, but also because of the compute power. The A7 is much stronger for compute power, aided by built-in hardware encryption.

However, in the A7, it's actually comparable or faster to a pincode or pattern unlock, despite being a way, way more complex process under the hood.

 

[alkemyst]

That's a pretty good summary.

However, that's why I mentioned the A7's hardware encryption. I'm thinking they maybe couldn't implement this until the 5S not just because of the scanning hardware, but also because of the compute power. The A7 is much stronger for compute power, aided by built-in hardware encryption.

However, in the A7, it's actually comparable or faster to a pincode or pattern unlock, despite being a way, way more complex process under the hood.

Hardware is light speed more or less. It's like ASICs versus CPU's and detached RAM.

Also in GUI's a fraction of a second and two seconds are noticeable.

 

[MrX8503]

It is not only ridiculous to claim one is faster than the other...

Oh but you did make such a claim that pattern/digit pass code is faster. You made that "definitive" claim without proof and was proven wrong by videos posted here. Lol.

 

[openwheel]

Point is no one can positively prove one way or another without extensive blind test. So claiming one is more convenient than another is simply false. Convenience is user specific. If I say I can unlock faster with passcode, how are you going to disprove me? You can't because I can post any video I want under my controlled condition. If anyone actually would offer up their iPhone 5S then I can easily make a video that shows my claim, but I know you guys are smarter than that.

However, let's assume TouchID is more convenient, that still does not address the issue of this thread: security. This implementation is a side step to the alternative, and frankly redundant and gimmicky. Not a major advancement in mobile that someone else tried to claim.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Point is no one can positively prove one way or another without extensive blind test. So claiming one is more convenient than another is simply false. Convenience is user specific. If I say I can unlock faster with passcode, how are you going to disprove me? You can't because I can post any video I want under my controlled condition. If anyone actually would offer up their iPhone 5S then I can easily make a video that shows my claim, but I know you guys are smarter than that.

However, let's assume TouchID is more convenient, that still does not address the issue of this thread: security. This implementation is a side step to the alternative, and frankly redundant and gimmicky. Not a major advancement in mobile that someone else tried to claim.

You said you could enter your passcode faster. Now you're saying it could be one way or the other. Which is it? And why do you think TouchID is slower?

How many times have you said gimmick? If you don't like it, don't use it. There's no one forcing you to use it or not to use it.

They're both alternate forms of password entry. I'm not seeing how it's a major advancement, especially considering not everyone locks their phones down.

A lot of people do. I know you don't and I don't either, but most of the time when I pick up a friend's phone, its locked.

Quite honestly, if it weren't for my slider shortcuts on Android, I wouldn't mind a fingerprint unlock. It's just as fast as a slider. My point is just to avoid annoying patterns or PINs.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

If someone is stealing my fingerprint, I'd probably have bigger issues than what's on my phone.

 

[QueBert]

Touch ID's secure enough to keep normal people (mostly everyone) from accessing your 5s. And it can be easily used with 1 hand without having to look at the phone to unlock it. With the option to not use it and use a pass code, I'm not seeing any downside to the iPhone 5s here. If you don't like it you still have other options for unlocking.

Unless I'm missing something in the few videos and articles I read, it's not easy to get around Touch ID. And impossible (at the moment at least) unless the person has an uber high resolution photo of the finger to trick the phone with. I'd say that's fairly secure.