While the new iPhone 5S Touch ID sensor looks to be a fascinating piece of technology, users won’t be able to do anything else besides unlock their iPhone or verify iTunes purchases -- at least for now.
AllThingsD confirmed the news after talking with Apple’s Phil Schiller:
Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller confirmed to AllThingsD that developers won’t get access to use a fingerprint as a means of authentication. He declined to comment on whether that might come in the future.
That’s definitely an interesting choice. I think developers could come up with some amazing ways to use the biometric capability, but that will have to wait.
Tim Cook also said Apple is looking at other uses for the sensor:
Asked by AllThingsD whether Apple might expand its own use of the fingerprint reader over time, Apple CEO Tim Cook didn’t offer any specifics, but said, “You can probably imagine a lot of [other] uses.”