• Ideas General

  • Issues with In-Screen-Scanners: Use New Native API (Android)

Hello bunq 🌈 and bunqers! 👋

On Android we more and more see different ways to unlock our phones ("In-Screen-Fingerprint-Scanners", Face-Unlocks similar to FaceID,..) and with that we are facing some issues:

  1. You can't test your app for all phones on Android, so you might miss something.
    Some people for example are experiencing issues with In-Screen Fingerprint-Scanners and bunq Tap&Pay (not Google Pay), also the new Galaxy S10 has one!
  2. It's getting harder to "keep up". Some phones support "Face-ID" (not just by camera, "real" face-id), some have the Fingerprint-Scanner under the display right there were the bunq App has a button and who knows what's coming..

But I believe there is a solution since Android (9) Pie. It's called the "BiometricPrompt".
Similar to iOS the apps aren't handling the Fingerprint-Scan process themselves, the OS is doing it with a similar look across apps (like the "Face" at iOS in every App using Face-ID to unlock).

So the bunq App would "ask" the OS to authorise with a Fingerprint, or other biometric-solutions like "real" face-id, and the OS would do the rest.

That's how it looks like on my Google Pixel 2 XL:

What are the benefits? bunq wouldn't need to check their Tap&Pay and Login Process for every phone, just to make sure, that a button or so is not placed wrong. The OS would do this for bunq! And it should be easier to support new types of authentication-ways in the future.

I'm not an Android Dev, so I don't know if I'm completely wrong here with that, but here are some links to it:
* https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/06/better-biometrics-in-android-p.html
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/biometrics/package-summary

Oh wait, but isn't it only for Android 9? Well, I don't know, but all the new devices have Android 9 (OnePlus 6T, Galaxy S10, and new ones). And in the first link (*) you can find some infos about this.

Note: I also reported this in support some days ago, but I would also love to hear some other devs' feedback about it.

    @johannes#73391 I fully agree with you. Bunq should use standard APIs instead of implementing custom handlers for device features. This has been a problem for some time now, not only with the bunq app but also other companies. They have a few testing devices, but "in the wild", there are many more different types, especially in the android universe.

      @JanBrodda#73421 Well, they used the normal standard before Android 9, sadly android implemented this very lately :/

        3 months later

        Same issue with the mi9

          Same issue with OnePlus 7 Pro

            5 months later

            @Gabrie#96285 @Ruben-Azure-Eagle#96047 Hey everyone! With today's update this got implemented! Thank you so much!
            So bunq also supports Face Unlock on Android now, but I wish they could implement the implicit confirmation next :)

              Face unlock? Can't find it in the settings only finger print unlock. Just updated the app

                @Gabrie#131448 Face Unlock on Devices with "true" Face Unlock like the Google Pixel 4. The text isn't updated yet, it will still say "Fingerprint Unlock" in the settings, but you can't exclude it via the new API.
                For your OnePlus Tap & Pay should now work better with the in-screen Fingerprint sensor.

                  I switched to using the widget for tap & pay, which is also fine. Will test tonight in the bar :-)

                    Yay, its implemented in the latest update!

                      Op de Galaxy A50 krijg ik direct op het inlogscherm de melding dat de vingerafdruk niet herkend wordt. In andere apps werkt de vingerafdruk nog wel

                        4 days later

                        @Duncan-Navy-Zebra#131583 Hey Duncan, what happens if you remove your fingerprints in the settings of your phone and re-add them?

                          @johannes#132162 Het werkt weer nadat ik de voorkeursauthenticatie van mijn telefoon gewijzigd had van gezicht naar vingerprint

                            @Duncan-Navy-Zebra#132241 Perfect! And yes this is sadly a known issue with Samsung devices in combination with the new API.

                              a month later

                              De voorkeursauthenticatie wijzigen van 'Face Unlock' naar 'Fingerprint' lijkt inderdaad te werken!

                                @Wasdroger#137472 Yes, because Samsung devices have an insecure face unlock, not enough for the new API.

                                  Op m'n OnePlus 7 werkte de vingerafdrukscan bij Tap & Pay tot eergisteren prima. Ineens niets meer. Is er iets dat ik zou moeten weten?