Forget the Touch Bar: Apple developers set their sights on the new MacBook Pro Touch ID
The new MacBook Pro comes with a great, albeit gimmicky feature, in the form of the Touch Bar: a hardware utility that adds touchscreen controls to the new laptop, and that can be customized according to the applications being used.
So far, aside from the typical apps one would expect, such as stock macOS apps, MS Office, Adobe CC, and other major programs like Garageband and Final Cut, not many developers have felt the need to make use of the new hardware yet, aside from a few indie developers who managed to turn the Touch Bar into different trinkets, such as sound boards, mini-games, a Knight Rider KITT scanner, and even a barely playable version of the original Doom video game.
With that said, while the media was busy focusing on the Touch Bar, another brand new, and barely talked about piece of hardware on the new MacBook Pro is starting to get the attention it deserves.
The Touch-ID has finally made it into the MacBook Pro, and apps developers are starting to pay attention. Developers working on the latest version of the Keeper app, a mobile security app designed to store all passwords in one place. While the iOS version of Keeper already makes use of Touch-ID, Keeper has now been officially updated to support Touch-ID on macOS, for the latest 15 inch MacBook Pro.
Keeper CTO, and co-founder, Craig Lurey was quoted in an official press release, stating that "This latest capability will save MacBook customers time and make their devices and online activity on their laptops safer, We are so pleased to be able to provide biometric and autofill support so their experience with Keeper is seamless and secure.".
Alongside Keeper, 1PAssword was one of the first apps to embrace the new Touch-ID in macOS, as well as Debit & Credit Personal Finance Manager.
It goes without saying that online payments via Apple Pay are a major component of Touch-ID on the new MacBook, since support of Apple Pay in Safari, for websites that integrate Apple’s mobile payment API.
Buy this token, it’s likely that other mobile payment providers are already gearing up to create Touch-ID friendly versions of their systems, particularly those embedded in macOS apps.
Touch-ID is one of the most secure forms of biometric authentication currently available, with major infrastructures already relying on its iOS version, such as Bank of America, J. P. Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.
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