What you need to know
- Samsung's Galaxy S21 series phones will reportedly have Bixby Voice as a biometric authentication method.
- The feature will be a part of One UI 3.1 and will be rolled out to older Galaxy phones as well.
- There's no word yet on exactly how the feature will work.
Earlier this month, a huge specs leak revealed that Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S21 series phones will be relatively modest upgrades over their predecessors. According to a new report from SamMobile, the Galaxy S21 trio will feature Bixby Voice as a biometric authentication method, making it possible for users to unlock the device using just their voice.
The feature will apparently be part of Samsung's One UI 3.1 software, so it is likely to make its way to Samsung's best Android phones of 2020, including the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Note 20 series a few weeks after the Galaxy S21 series phones go on sale. While it is always good to have more choices, we're not sure if it's a great decision to offer voice unlock as a biometric method on a flagship phone. Similar to how face unlock solutions can be fooled with a photo of your face, it shouldn't be too difficult to fool Bixby Voice unlock with a voice recording.
As noted by SamMobile, Bixby used to have the ability to unlock your phone to follow your commands when the "Hi Bixby" wake word was used. When Bixby was first introduced, you could even unlock your device with the help of a voice password.
Unfortunately, the report doesn't shed any light on exactly how the Bixby Voice unlock feature will work on the Galaxy S21 series phones. Aside from Bixby Voice, the upcoming Samsung flagships are also expected to offer fingerprint authentication and face unlock as biometric unlocking methods.
