Touch ID is a huge feature for Apple these days, seeing as its a main point of security for iPhones and iPads, but it could be coming to Macs, too.
The idea that Apple could use Touch ID for a Mac owner to sign into their machine seems inevitable at this point, simply due to Touch ID’s importance to the company in its other devices. Recently, Patently Apple discovered a patent that was granted to Apple that outlines “biometric sensing” in a laptop, or even for desktops.
The patent is 9,158,957 and it is titled, “Finger sensing apparatus using hybrid matching and associated methods.” The first figure, seen above, shows that Apple was picturing the fingerprint sensor being near the keyboard, built into the hardware of the laptop.
The patent also covers the technology being implemented into standalone keyboards for desktop computers as well.
“Apple’s patent FIG. 1 illustrated below ‘is a perspective view of an electronic device in the form of a laptop computer including a finger sensor and enhanced security.’ The invention extends to a future iMac/desktop where the Touch ID feature could be incorporated into the keyboard.”
As is usual for these types of findings, Apple is granted a lot of patents, and most of those don’t get built into actual devices. This could be another one of those instances. However, as noted above, Touch ID is an important feature for Apple, and signing in with just a fingerprint into your Mac of the future does sound pretty exciting.
[via Patently Apple]
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