Official iPhone 5S Manual Confirms Fingerprint / Touch ID Sensor in Home Button

C Technology has posted exclusive images of the iPhone 5S manual. These images have finally laid to rest the debate as to whether Apple will launch their next generation iPhone 5S with a fingerprint scanner.

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The iPhone 5S instruction manual identifies the Sleep/Wake button, Lightning connector, Volume button, Ring/Silent Switch and more importantly the Home button/ Touch ID senor. One can assume that the use of the letters ID, suggests that the sensor will be use for identification purposes instead of verification.

Biometric expert Geppy Parziale explain the difference between Identification and Verification:

Before we go on, we need to make a clear distinction between identification and verification. Sometimes, these two terms are misused and confused. Identification or 1-to-many recognition is used to compare a fingerprint against a (large) set of fingerprints. This is usually used, for example, when you enter the United States: you provide your 10 fingerprints and the system compares them against all the fingerprints contained in a database of criminals or wanted people (the so-called black list). This is done with an Automated Fingerprint Identification System or, AFIS.

Verification or 1-to-1 recognition is used to check if you are really who you claim to be when you try to access a system or a device. Verification will be used in the iPhone. This is important to know, because verification is much easier to perform than identification and allows less constraint during the recognition and the use of lower quality fingerprint sensors.

Furthermore, it’s still unclear whether Apple will use this for payments via their iWallet in the future. Mark Gurman suggests that this might not be the case.

“In August when we received reliable confirmation that Apple is planning to include a fingerprint scanner in the iPhone 5S, we learned that the scanner will not be used for payments,” Gurman writes for 9to5 Mac. “We understand, instead, that the fingerprint scanner will be built as a passcode replacement for unlocking the iPhone.”

“The process is said to be simple. To unlock the iPhone with the fingerprint reader, an iPhone 5S user simply clicks and holds their finger/thumb down on the sensor for a few seconds. It is unlikely that the sensor login and passcode could be used in tandem. There will be a preference in the iPhone’s Settings app to disable the sensor,” Gurman explains.

In under 12 hours, all will be revealed.