Multimodalities - Multi Convenience!

Those days I used my phone for just calling, are long gone. My smartphone plays a natural part my life, and probably in your life too. I still use it for calling and texting, but also to keep up on social media, taking and sharing photos, online shopping and even paying my bills.

Why? Because it is convenient! Always having the tool needed literally in my hand.

So, when one device gets all that powerful, it is of growing importance to keep it secure.

Ever since the introduction of smartphones, authentication and security have been natural parts of the mobile platforms. We have seen all from four-digit PINs, six-digit pass codes, alpha numeric passwords, patterns and then biometrics, to become standard on most modern smartphones.

Biometrics is something that you are, rather than something you have to remember, like a PIN code. The convenience of not forgetting, is one of the main reasons to the success of using fingerprint (See VISAs survey, Sept 2017). That it is also raising the security bar, is an advantage you get for free.

But do we need multimodal biometrics?

The most acknowledged biometric modality on smart devices today is fingerprint, but new modalities such as iris, face and voice recognition are becoming more frequent, which raises the question about the practical need in our everyday lives.

-My take is that it is all about convenience and security, or even better explained as convenient security.

With multimodal biometric features on a device, we enhance users' options and ease of use, without removing any security. Multimodality is a two-in-one solution that can provide both extra convenience and extra security.

Edge with multimodality

- Let’s say the touch modality on your device is unavailable, for instance if you’re wearing gloves, thanks to the touchless biometric, like iris or face recognition, you can still access your device. The touchless modality makes it more convenient and easy to handle.

Another example where we can see the benefits of multimodality are with face masks that are so common in Asia. With only one modality like face scan, the face mask has to be removed every time you open your smartphone, and that is more than 100 times every day in average. With iris or fingerprint also available, the mask could be kept on. Convenience wins again!

Already now we have smartphones that have both fingerprint and iris, but can this also bring extra security?

- In terms of security, multi modality is perfect for situations were high-level security is required, for instance money transactions, corporate login or accessing sensitive information. Combining two modalities will multiply the security level, giving you that extra level of security for those special moments.

But as we all know, convenience always wins, so the most appreciated feature with multimodality is probably the ease of use!

Stay tuned for more blogposts.