“When Apple develops a new technology or feature for its hardware, it typically rolls it out on one product then expands it to the rest of the line,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac.
“For example, Touch ID launched for the iPhone in 2013 and made its way to the iPad with the iPad Air 2 in 2014,” Gurman reports. “For 2015, Touch ID may make its debut on the Mac, according to a rumor from website apple.club.tw.”
“According to the blog, which published legitimate photos of iPad Air 2 Touch ID and A8X chip components last fall, Touch ID will come to Macs this year to enable Apple Pay functionality,” Gurman reports. “Touch ID’s functionality is based on a secure element component within the A-series chips in iPhones and iPads, so Apple will need to integrate such a component in future Macs and input devices to make Touch ID on the Mac possible.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]
Most probably coming to the apple car, opening & starting your car via touch ID, if you can secure your bank account why not your car & even your house integrated to home kit.
Touch ID would be a nice security feature for your car, but in cold weather states who the heck wants to take their mittens off to start the car?
Especially when my Apple Watch has already been authenticated. I shouldn’t have to “turn on” the car except as a backup in case my Apple Watch isn’t with me.
“OK, buddy, hand over the watch and nobody gets hurt.”
Maybe you want to rethink that.
1) How is that any different from “hand over the keys”?
2) The Apple Watch becomes de-authenticated once removed from the wrist.
Wonder how this would be implemented into the hardware. Integrated into the lower button perhaps?
Power*
On my iPhone 6 I can only use my TouchID to unlock my phone from sleep. If I shut it down and restart it, I have to enter my 4 digit PIN. I honestly don’t understand why this is necessary. I would like TouchID on my Mac so I don’t have to type in my password when waking it, but I hope I could use my finger to unlock my Mac also from a cold boot. Let’s hope they get this right AND change the iPhone unlock from cold boot…
Love it. Touch ID is not just about Apple Pay at point of sale but about all kinds of payment. One example: nowadays it is possible to receive your bills by email and pay using a credit card or bill payment service, but there are a lot of “friction points” that prevent most people from doing this. Imagine this low friction scenario: You receive an email that says you have a bill. You click a link and then use Touch ID to authenticate. Now you can see your bill and save your own copy if you want. Next, you specify when the bill is to be paid and again use touch ID to authorize the funds to be withdrawn from your bank account. Bill received, viewed, paid, and posted, all without USPS or any paper. Some people already do this, but it requires a pile of usernames, passwords, an custom programs; that is “high friction” and it could be more secure. Using touch ID will make it so simple, secure and intuitive that every granny will want to do this rather than get paper in the mail. Once again, Apple is thinking many steps ahead. Putting a Touch ID on your Mac is a great step in this direction. Let’s go! Do it now!
Perhaps a new trackpad with Touch ID for existing Mac users as well?