Fujitsu has announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that it has managed to create a smart eye tracking device that can recognise each user's unique iris.
Fujistsu says that: "Just by looking at the smartphone’s screen, the user’s iris gets read instantaneously, enabling the smartphone to be unlocked."
This means worrying about wearing gloves or holding the home button just right could be a thing of the past. Fujitsu also points out iris recognition could be used to log into online services and apps so you no longer need a password.
Biometric recognition can detect the individual's iris, which is the part around the pupil of the eye.
This iris pattern doesn't change much at all after the age of two and is difficult to forge, says Fujitsu.
The part that is recognised is the movement of the iris as it gets larger and smaller to adapt to let in light.
This is done using infrared meaning the smartphone's front-facing camera isn’t even involved.
Instead an infrared light is shone on the eye and a special infrared camera is used to verify the match.
So for Fujitsu's iris recognition to work the device will need the appropriate hardware to run, so don't expect it in the current generation of smartphones.
But it could be coming very soon indeed with plans to launch in 2015.
With smart payments through handsets set to become a big thing this year it would be great to have another layer of security.
Check back for our hands-on from MWC 2015 soon. For now check out the video of it in action.
