1000+ unique media and news posts every 24 hours…
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
As smartwatches become more powerful and add more utility, they begin to carry as much weight as our phones. This means that an easy way to lock and unlock it becomes imperative. Even the best smartwatches opt for PIN-based systems, but if you’ve ever used a smartwatch for payments, you know that typing these numbers on reduced screens is awkward and annoying. A faster, alternative authentication method, such as a smartwatch fingerprint sensor, could ideally solve this problem quickly.
11 votes
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
Like small smartphones, smartwatches now have access to vast amounts of our sensitive data. While they have won all kinds fitness tracking and smart features in recent years, their authentication methods have stuck around for the past decade. Even if you buy the most expensive smartwatches from Samsung or Apple, you’ll need to enter a PIN or password to unlock your device or verify payments.
Thanks to my usage habits, I regularly unlock my wearable more than once a day. I often take off my watch while washing dishes or showering, which locks it again. When I wear it, I often find that wear detection also doesn’t work as reliably as it should. This back-and-forth dance, which requires multiple PINs, becomes incredibly annoying. Neither PINs nor passwords are particularly quick or hassle-free to enter multiple times a day. It has even gotten to the point where I would rather forego any authentication system on my wearables and therefore payments. Digging through my wallet and tapping my card is much easier than typing a PIN a thousand times a day.
The back and forth of entering my PIN multiple times a day became so incredibly annoying that I turned off the security on my smartwatch.
There is a clear solution here. Fingerprint sensors have become reliable authentication options on smartphones, and it’s high time they were offered on smartwatches as well. It’s much more natural to place your other thumb on the display, power button, or crown of your smartwatch rather than gently tapping your fingers across the display. Printouts can be counterfeited, but they are more secure than a four-digit number. Faster authentication also means faster payments; in this case I would be more inclined to use my smartwatch as intended.
Furthermore, thanks to the continued advance of technology, it seems unlikely that smartwatches will have to go through the same difficult teething period as smartphones. Generation after generation, sensors have seen smaller footprints, more efficient operation, and improved accuracy.
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
I have no doubt that some people will call me lazy and comment that the current systems work just fine or that they would rather see advancements in other facets of smartwatch technology. I agree with the latter, but why should we settle?
To play devil’s advocate, there are probably several reasons why we haven’t seen fingerprint sensors on smartwatches yet. Even though these readers get smaller over time, the size of the modules can still be an issue. They are designed with smartphones in mind, devices that offer much more internal space than a smartwatch. Wearable device manufacturers should facilitate their inclusion in some way, whether it means shaving off other core components or increasing the size of watches. Neither solution is particularly attractive.
Sure, fingerprint sensors have come of age on smartphones, but are they ready for smartwatches?
Despite their benefits, smartwatch fingerprint sensors may not be a big selling point for most users. Although PIN codes and passwords have their problems, they demonstrably work. Most people don’t need to unlock their watches as often as they do their smartphones.
If an additional component is introduced, the battery will obviously be needed to power it. Despite the efficiency gains we’ve seen with the latest Wear OS release, smartwatch batteries continue to fight for their lives. Two days between charges is virtually possible with the Pixel watch 3. A fingerprint sensor would undoubtedly drop this figure again.
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
A man pressed the digital crown on his Google Pixel Watch 3.
Despite these issues, I still believe that smartwatch fingerprint sensors have a place in modern devices. I dream of the day when smartwatches are as easy to unlock as smartphones. Maybe in the future a device will automatically unlock when it detects my biosignals and subdermal data (man, LG’s crazy Hand ID was ahead of its time). Until then, I’ll have to make do with what we have.
However, a smartwatch fingerprint sensor is just one of many possible solutions. My colleague Rita wrote in a 2023 article arguing this Pixel Watch Unlock should work both waysleaving Pixel Watches unlocked when near their partner phone. I wholeheartedly agree. This would be a brilliant addition to the upcoming edition Wear operating system smartwatches and Android phones and might alleviate some of my PIN pain.
All in all, I’m disappointed that 2024 has passed without a single smartwatch testing these waters. There are solutions to the clunkiness of smartwatch authentication, and I’m hopeful that manufacturers will implement them in the coming year.
1000+ unique media and news posts every 24 hours…