The first thing you might want to try upon getting your Samsung Galaxy Note7 is to set up the iris scanner — the newest and most secure form of security protection that has debuted for the first time on a mobile device. All those years of watching James Bond have finally paid-off, you are ready for the iris scanner and are so going to put on a tuxedo just to use it.

Samsung for one, has made the feature extremely innovative and interesting to use. Unlike the movies, you do not have to bring your eyeball near the camera and have a red laser scan your iris. Advancements in technology and software mean that the device is able to use what looks like an infra-red camera of low image resolution to map your irises. The camera pairs up with Samsung’s proprietary software that digitises the unique pattern of your irises before storing it as a reference data point.

When you then use the iris scanner to unlock your device or to access the Secure Folder, the separate iris scanning camera on the front of the device would then capture a live image of your eyes and compare it to the digitised version. If you use a picture, or try to use another screen with an image of your eyes, the device is able to recognise the con and shuts down the iris scanner immediately. Only the real McCoy can work for the iris scanner on the Note7.

To set up the iris scanner:

• Go to Lock Screen and Security under the Settings menu.

• Tap on Irises.

• The device will then prompt you with an extremely long disclaimer.
  • Scroll to the bottom of the disclaimer, before selecting ‘Ok’.

• Tapping irises would then prompt you to confirm your current security pattern, pin or password.
  • You need to have a pattern or pin or alphanumeric password set up to use the iris scanner.
  • This is as a back-up in the event you are unable to unlock via the iris scanner.
  • If the pin, pattern or password is not set-up, the device would prompt you to set it before you can go to the next step.

• Subsequently, it would give you instructions to set the scanner.
  • Remember you cannot be wearing glasses or contacts for best results.
  • You can only set one pair of irises, so there are no fears of your girlfriend threatening you to let her set her eyes to gain access to your device. If you do this, it is not cute and you should probably get a new girlfriend.
  • Do ensure the device is 25-35 cm away from your face. (That’s 10-14 inches for those in the USA).

• The device will then show a short animation before beginning to scan your irises.
  • Ensure that your eyes are within the two blue guide circles.

• Within 5 seconds, your device would have scanned your iris, digitised and stored your iris data.

• The Note7 will then bring you to the iris settings menu, where you can enable toggles to use the iris scanner for web sign-in and Verify Samsung Account. Iris scanner to unlock your device is enabled by default.
  • You can set your iris scanner to replace passwords for website and to log into your Samsung account.

• Tap Enable to enable the iris scanner.

• You can exit the Settings menu and try unlocking the device using your irises.

Do let us know if the iris scanner is something that you like to you or if you still prefer the fingerprint scanner over this functionality.