One of our primary complaints with how biometrics work on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ (and also the Note 8) was that Samsung didn't let us use facial recognition as a backup for when the iris scanner failed. The same is true for the iris scanner acting as a fail-safe for when facial recognition doesn't work; basically, the two can't be enabled at the same time, a limitation that carried forward with the Android 8.0 Oreo update for the S8 and S8+. With the Galaxy S9 and S9+, Samsung has finally removed that limitation with a new feature called Intelligent Scan.
Iris and facial recognition work in tandem on the Galaxy S9
We haven't been able to test it out yet, but the gist is simple: Intelligent Scan uses the iris scanner and facial recognition at the same time to quickly unlock the device in different lighting conditions. It should help primarily under harsh sunlight and in the dark, where the iris scanner and facial recognition – respectively – often fail to work. For those who've found iris and facial scanning too slow, Intelligent Scan should make things much better. Again, we've not been able to test this, and we're not sure if Intelligent Scan will require both our eyes and face to be recognized in order to work.
It also remains to be seen if Intelligent Scan will make its way to the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8. We inquired with a Samsung representative about the same and were told that nothing is confirmed at this point. Getting it to work on existing devices probably isn't going to be an issue, and judging by the Korean giant's tendency to aim for software consistency across its flagships these days, we're certainly hopeful we'll be able to use iris and facial recognition in tandem on the S8 or Note 8 at some point in the near future.
For more on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, check out our hands-on experience.
