Future iPhones could capture phone thief’s picture, fingerprint

But Apple will have to come up with a more effective way to capture fingerprints if it is to incorporate this feature

Apple is reportedly testing a new anti-theft measure that covertly captures the fingerprint and photograph of a phone thief.

In a Patent application published this week, Apple mentioned a trigger condition that automatically results in capturing the bio-metric information of the user currently holding the phone.



This Bio-metric information "may be one or more fingerprints, one or more images of a current user of the computing device, video of the current user, audio of the environment of the computing device, forensic interface use information, and so on", the patent abstract details.

iPhone Touch ID   PHOTO:REUTERS

"The computing device may then provide the stored bio-metric information for identification of one or more unauthorised users."



Given the current status of Apple’s Touch ID which requires a user to hold down their finger in a variety of angles, Apple will have to come up with a more effective way to capture fingerprints if it is to incorporate this measure in the future. The new anti-theft measure is in line with Apple’s policy to protect privacy.



For the time being this feature might help in capturing photographs of suspicious users similar to what the iOS and Android app Lookout does. Lookout captures images of suspicious users who try to tamper with the devices security settings.

This article originally appeared on TheVerge

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