Let's use Biometrics: Apple TouchID

[RafaelJaimex]

So I'm in the restaurant business, before square we had a finger print scanner to clock in and out, and to sign into the main POS screen. I was wondering if square has any plans to include biometrics into their software. Specifically for the restaurant. There could be many used for integration with Apple's reliable touchid scanner. What do you think?

[Tom · Accepted solution]

Thanks for surfacing, @RafaelJaimex. I like the way you think—I can definitely see how the option to enable a fingerprint scanner would be useful for a wide variety of business functions: point of sale sign-in, timecards, and other instances where a passcode would otherwise slow things down.

While I couldn't access a specific timeline or road map for a related request, I'll be sure to share your post with our Restaurants and Point of Sale teams. We are constantly iterating based on seller feedback. Please keep in touch and let us know if anything else comes up.

[pessosices]

I love the idea, @RafaelJaimex !

Disclaimer: I know only a little bit about these things:

I think the current issue might be in the Apple side of things. For safety & security, I believe that Apple keeps the actual Biometrics stored & encrypted on the device, and each app only reads, translates, and authenticates whether or not it's a match to the Device Owner Profile of Biometrics on file. Individual apps (like Square) wouldn't have access to create & store Biometrics to different In-App Profiles, which would be needed for multiple employees and such. 

There's definitely demand for some type of Biometrics (I would love it too!!) - there's just the current limitation set by Apple themselves in Apple Devices. But hopefully there's some type of solution for Square somewhere down the line!

[RafaelJaimex]

That's what I was thinking, that apple would have to get involved. But you can add as of now up to five finger prints. So potentially, five employees per device so idk how that could work. It would be interesting how square incorporates biometrics

[pessosices]

Very true - but I believe it won't be able to differentiate those 5 employees, just that they all authenticate as Device Owner.

There is a lot of potential there though, and I'd love to see something happen with it!