Samsung hasn't put an iris scanner on its flagship smartphones only to control access to the device. It can really prove to be useful for mobile banking apps. Major UK high street bank TSB has already confirmed that it's going to add support for the Galaxy S8's iris scanner to its mobile banking app next month.
Bank of America is taking a similar step. It will start piloting support for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+'s iris scanner in its mobile banking app next month. The functionality will enable Bank of America customers to log into mobile banking by simply scanning their iris.
Michelle Moore, head of digital banking at Bank of America, says that this pilot program is part of a broader effort on the bank's part to measure customers' affinity for various forms of biometric authentication.
Bank of America is the first major bank in the United States to embrace iris scanning. However, since it's only going to run a pilot program initially, it's unclear when support for this advanced biometric authentication method will be rolled out for all customers.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are the only smartphones from Samsung to feature an iris scanner. That will change soon. The Galaxy Note 8 will be out in September and it's almost certainly going to have an iris scanner as well.
