Iris Scanner on Anniversary

[br00ksh0t]

I am considering a move to the 950 XL and was wondering if the speed and reliability of the iris scanner had improved with the latest update. It is my understanding that it hasn't exactly been 100% reliable since the phones release. Thanks!

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[Chintan Gohel]

It's nearly the same speed as before, maybe 10% faster - this is from general perusing of the forums

 

[br00ksh0t]

Thanks... Would you consider it a viable unlocking method or is it still not quite there?

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Thanks... Would you consider it a viable unlocking method or is it still not quite there?

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

user experience varies -I myself haven't used it since I don't have those particular phone models yet. Some find it just as fast as typing a pin while a few find it slow and not reliable. You have the choice to use it or not

 

[anthonyng]

I use it, sometimes I'm faster by pin sometimes it's faster by iris. I say it's about 60/40 iris vs pin for me in terms of which method unlocks phone first

I took the position to not get hung up about the iris scan reliability and that I didn't need to rely on one method as long as something unlocks the phone! It all helps. With double tap to wake back I'm just happier.

 

[Joe920]

For me it basically always works. The main annoyance is that some apps can still hold it up. Example: when Podcast Lounge is running and I hit power, I need to wait for the play controls to auto hide again before Hello comes on.

One sign that it works well is that sometimes in the middle of typing my password it recognizes me.

 

[JRDEMASKUS]

I find typing the PIN to be easier.
It tells me to Move Closer, till the screen is blurry, (I wear glasses) hurts my head.
Iris scanner works ok, it does recognize me, but it is not as fast as PIN.

 

[Joe920]

I find typing the PIN to be easier.
It tells me to Move Closer, till the screen is blurry, (I wear glasses) hurts my head.
Iris scanner works ok, it does recognize me, but it is not as fast as PIN.

Protip, you don't have to actually focus on the screen while you use Hello. You can stare in the distance and will recognize you just fine.

 

[JDHamilton6]

Maybe not the right place to ask, but since we're talking iris scanner...

Sometimes I wear contacts, sometimes I wear glasses. Will it recognize me no matter how I'm correcting my vision?

 

[anthonyng]

Maybe not the right place to ask, but since we're talking iris scanner...

Sometimes I wear contacts, sometimes I wear glasses. Will it recognize me no matter how I'm correcting my vision?

Not sure the official line but it's recognized me through my polarized sunglasses even

 

[JDHamilton6]

Not sure the official line but it's recognized me through my polarized sunglasses even

Amazing. It's pretty versatile then. I think I'll give it a try.

 

[Martin Zone]

Amazing. It's pretty versatile then. I think I'll give it a try.

Yes it works fine if you keep the phone directly in front of your face and not to far. It will not work where you need a quick unlock. For example if you succeed to unlock it while walking you are very lucky guy. I have been unlucky for 9 months now...

 

[Sean N]

Frankly, Im not a fan. It works pretty reliably overall, but its not fast. I've been spoiled by fingerprint readers getting faster and faster. Im also annoyed that the Note 7 has a much faster method of unlocking using its iris scanner. I hope this improves, right now, its usable, but significantly slower than 4 digit pin entry. I've trained the thing in at least 5 distinctly different light conditions around 4 or 5 times in each. I expected it to be much better at recognizing me, but you have to hold it at just the right angle and distance. For being one of the first to market, its cool technology, but in practice, you really have to want to use it. Its a FAR cry from windows hello on the desktop or surface, which recognizes extremely fast, and with a huge "recognition window".

 

[slyronit]

I avoid using the PIN as long as the Iris scanner doesn't fail to detect your eyes (happens in about 5% of use cases or very bright sunlight). I think it has improved since Threshold and is all about getting used to it. It unlocks fastest at a particular distance from your eyes and at a particular angle (for me, slightly tilted to the left), once you get that down, it is almost instantaneous.

Another reason I avoid using the PIN, even in cases it could be faster is because people can watch you type the PIN and it is also easy to decipher your pin using fingerprints on the screen (though no one would bother doing that with my phone)

 

[bijak_riyandi]

The main annoyance is that some apps can still hold it up. Example: when Podcast Lounge is running and I hit power, I need to wait for the play controls to auto hide again before Hello comes on.

you can swipe up to dismiss the play controls

 

[Tiiger88]

It's still beta, so don't expect faster and more reliable functioning. It's cool to show off to other people, but actually inserting a PIN is more comfortable. And when i walk and want to unlock my phone via iris scanner, it fails almost every time...so...you have iris scanner in beta stadium for almost a year now, some people considering to buy a new phone with this time....at this point, MS failed in my opinion!

 

[miodrage]

I was using Hello for 2 months time, and it worked pretty ok. However, since i do not put off my phone ever, and am the only one in touch with it, I did shut it all down. Just swipe up to unlock and thats it.

 

[real0395]

Some general tips and this is from pre-AU, but I'm sure it still applies: do the recognition improvement many times in different lighting conditions, different angles, and try to put the phone out as far as possible while it still recognizes you, and with AND without glasses if you have corrective lenses (so it can recognize you in both scenarios, also contacts don't seem to matter as I also wear contacts but have not needed to train it with AND without contacts). Basically the more data it has of situations you are in, the faster it can recognize you.

One scenario where iris scanner seems to struggle with is in direct sunlight outside, but at the same time I never actually trained it in that setting so that could be why. Also, I'm not sure if it has trouble when there is movement. Usually if I'm outside, I'm walking and it seems to have trouble but again I'm not sure if that's more attributed to being out in sunlight or if the shakiness itself makes it difficult for the iris scanner to recognize me.


Since AU, I have personally found the speed/distance needed to recognize me to increase, but for some people they have to put the phone closer to their face than they would prefer. One forum member wrote that the distance he/she usually holds the phone seems to exceed the distance that the iris scanner needs in order to recognize him/her. The distance issue is not as big of a deal for me, but obviously it would be nice if it could recognize me from a longer distance.

 

[Roberto Velazquez R]

The iris scanner is a joke, MS should learn from Samsung, the Note 7 has this feature and works a lot faster

 

[Krystianpants]

Yes it works fine if you keep the phone directly in front of your face and not to far. It will not work where you need a quick unlock. For example if you succeed to unlock it while walking you are very lucky guy. I have been unlucky for 9 months now...

I do it all the time while grocery shopping and checking my grocery list tile. Try doing it at an angle looking down instead of right in front of your face. And not too close. I find that sometimes it says "move closer" but I know from the optimization that my eyes are only seen properly at a certain distance so I move further and it works. I don't think it actually knows how far you are just assumes you're too close.

For me it definitely works faster than the pin. Though I find it's not always like that. It was before the anniversary update, but now on the anniversary update it isn't as reliable with speed. It needs some sort of motion gestures built in because the biggest problem is the IR light turning on. When you double tap screen or press power button you see a bit of lag before the IR goes on.