Towards Improving Comprehension of Touch ID Authentication with Smartphone Applications

Apple recently opened Touch ID to third-party applications, giving third-party developers the ability to utilize Touch ID fingerprint sensor for user sign-in and authorization of sensitive tasks such as money transfer and purchase completion. This has introduced several misconceptions about how Touch ID use with applications. A recent study showed that users are unaware of how a fingerprint is being used during Touch ID-based sign-in to the application, have incorrect perceptions regarding the access of their registered fingerprint by an application, and are unaware of who can potentially access their account inside the Touch ID-enabled application. We propose a solution to increase user comprehension and risk perception of Touch ID use with sensitive task-based applications. Our solution focuses on improving the design of Touch ID terms and conditions dialog presented during the Touch ID setup phase of an application. We propose four dialog designs that simplify this information text and present it in bulleted format. We add visual examples and icons as cues to aid in the attention and comprehension of the presented information.