The latest version of iOS 7 beta was released on Monday and evidence of support for fingerprint recognition was found in the program, version four, which was released to developers, according to Forbes.
Hamza Sood, a programmer in London, found the fingerprint recognition software through the home button. Within AccessibilityBundles in the Library directory of the program, Sood found a BiometricKitUI folder, containing code that would allow fingerprint recognition. He posted a screencap of this code on his Twitter account.
The image code for the program has tags that "are what an iPhone with VoiceOver on would read to a user," Sood told 9to5Mac.
"The user interface for the fingerprint scanning system has been complete," another source told 9to5Mac.
The text strings found were an on-screen tutorial that instructs users on how to touch the home button on an iPhone to scan their fingerprints to unlock the phone. The new setting would allow the image of a fingerprint to unlock the phone, though it's still unknown whether it will respond to any fingerprint or a particular fingerprint.
The image of the fingerprint will appear on the screen and change color during the recognition process.
"The technology is focused around unlocking the phone, so it is unclear if it is built for a payment system as rumored in the next iPhone," according to the second source that spoke to 9to5Mac.
There have been rumors that the next iPhone would make use of fingerprint recognition technology, which Apple had previously acquired from AuthenTec.
"Fingerprint sensor in iPhone 5S is much more than a gimmick," Pavel Simeonov, a Bulgarian designer/developer, told Forbes. "This +iCloud keychain = end of passwords."
Accordingly, this new technology is not intended to be solely about security, but also about convenience for users. The iCloud keychain would potentially convert and safeguard all passwords that only the user could access via the iPhone, making Apple the only company to offer this technology.
An iPhone fan discusses fingerprint recognition technology.
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