Sensory has announced the release of “Applock,” an Android app that utilizes speaker verification and face authentication to create a biometric lock to access applications found on mobile devices.

Applock can be set for varying levels of access depending on the mobile user’s need for convenience or security. For example, a user can open applications simply with face recognition alone, or can choose for more secure access requiring both face and voice modes of authentication.

Applock is developed through Sensory’s TrulySecure technology suite, launched in July 2014, and is devised to allow secure access and authorization without requiring users to touch devices or enter passwords.

“Consumers generally find it cumbersome to use PINs or passwords to lock their phones, and as a result these devices often go unlocked,” says Sensory CEO Todd Mozer in the press release. “Sensory’s biometric authentication provides a high level of security, while still being convenient enough that people will actually use it.”

AppLock can currently be found on the Google Play Store. The TrulySecure SDK and technology is available to application and hardware developers and supports development on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.

Increasingly, banks and enterprises are developing a multi-modal approach for mobile device authentication.

Last week, USAA formally launched a dual biometric approach for mobile app authentication that gives members the opportunity to gain secure access through facial recognition or voice-based verification. The company notes that this innovation makes it the first U.S. financial institution to protect member security by using voice and face authentication.

Not to be outdone, Wells Fargo Bank will demonstrate the use voiceprints as part of multi-factor authentication to support easy authentication of mobile banking users at this May’s VBC New York event.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Authentication, Articles

Tags: Android, multi-factor authentication, Sensory, mobile devices, biometrics