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I was browsing the web and I saw an application that claimed to scan for user's fingerprints so I thought I should give it a try, the app worked well and I was amazed! does anyone know how this app reads user's fingerprint? how is this possible on android? any tutorial or hints or any open source project? I think this will help a lot of developers.

BenMorel
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maxsap
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I am guessing the app you are referring to is this. If so, it doesn't actually read your fingerprint. It just plays beeps and vibrations in a certain order and you have to know when to lift your finger to unlock the phone.

To be honest, I don't think it could read your fingerprint without a finger print scanner. The touch screen isn't fine enough to read the individual ridges in your fingerprint.

pattertj
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    It would be interesting to have an app that used the camera to recognize a fingerprint though. Theoretically, I'd think it would be possible, although it would be completely impractical to use for unlocking the device. It would take way too long to initialize the camera, snap the picture and analyze. It would be a cool project though. :) – Kevin Coppock Oct 14 '10 at 14:39
  • Agreed. I love the fingerprint scanner on my Lenovo tablet. A phone would be a great place to incorporate the feature. I bet you could replace the wheel/touch pad in middle of the bottom buttons with a fingerprint scanner while maintaining the scrolling/clicking aspect of it. That would be great. – pattertj Oct 14 '10 at 14:42
  • No I am referring to this application http://www.appbrain.com/app/fingerprint-screensaver/com.gau.screenguru.finger I tought that touchscreen isn't capable of reading the fingerprint but it seems like it does. – maxsap Oct 14 '10 at 15:39
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    I tried this app and it couldn't be an actual fingerprint scanner. Once I programmed my thumb into it, I was able to unlock it with either of my thumbs, or my wife's thumbs. Other fingers did not work as well though. My best guess is that it actually measures the size of pressure mark left by your finger to allow/deny the unlocking... – pattertj Oct 15 '10 at 02:19
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i don't think that it would be possible with actual hardware, however there are some interesting gadgets for that, to be connected with your device via blue-tooth. Have a look here : BlueFIN

mohamed khalloufi
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