Apple's iOS 11 Has A New Security Feature That Disables Touch ID

Users of the iPhone are not only waiting for the iPhone 8 announcement next month, but also waiting for the release of iOS 11. It has been discovered recently that the upcoming update to Apple’s mobile operating system will include the capability to temporarily disable the Touch ID fingerprint sensor.

The upcoming feature for iOS 11 was first discovered by users on Twitter and was later verified by The Verge in a report published yesterday. The new setting in iOS 11 will let iPhone users tap the power button quickly five times to automatically trigger emergency calls.

By default, the iOS 11 feature will also bring up a new window alerting users that the Touch ID sensor has been disabled. The Touch ID fingerprint scanner will only be available to use once the user enters their passcode.

Disabling the iPhone’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner isn’t an entirely new feature. The Touch ID sensor would disable by itself if it is unable to recognize a person’s fingerprint after a number of attempts. Users also have the option to simply completely turn it off and just use traditional numeric or alphanumeric passwords.

The new iOS 11 security feature has already been nicknamed as the “cop button,” according to TechCrunch. Not only will this new feature make it easier for people to make emergency calls, but it could also protect user’s privacy from the authorities who may want to access information on their iPhones.

Accessing the contents of an iPhone has been a huge issue in law enforcement and criminal investigations. The most popular example of this was with the FBI demanding Apple to unlock the iPhone 5C of the San Bernardino shooter. Most recently however, authorities are now also interested in accessing phones and other devices of users entering the country, as pointed out by Engadget.

The iPhone 8 is expected to come with facial recognition technology, which can be used to unlock the device. It’s very likely that iOS 11 will also have the ability to disable this feature after calling emergency services.

Apple’s iOS 11 is still currently in beta, and it is expected to come with new features and major improvements compared to iOS 10. The upcoming operating system is expected to be the default operating system of Apple’s iPhone 8, iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus.

The release date of iOS 11 is currently unknown, but Apple did terminate code support for iOS 10.3.2 just last week. This means that users who’ve already updated to iOS 10.3.3 won’t be able to downgrade back to version 10.3.2. The tech giant usually does this when the next iteration of the operating system, iOS 11, is around one month away from being released.

Right now, Apple is seeding the fifth beta version of iOS 11 to software and app developers. There’s also a beta version of the iOS 11 that’s available to the public, but users are warned that it may still be full of bugs and glitches.

Apple’s iOS 11 is also expected to bring major improvements on how to multitask and work on the iPad. Drag and drop file transfers is one of the biggest features that’s said to be included with iOS 11.