- In the age of biometric security measures, some young people are choosing to grant phone access via fingerprint to their significant other.
- Young couples say it's convenient and serves as a measure of trust in the relationship.
- However, that trust could backfire, as a current or former significant another acting in bad faith could cause a lot of damage with unrestricted access to a personal phone.
In the age of biometric security, some young couples are displaying a new form of trust.
Millennial and Gen Z are choosing to grant phone access via fingerprint to their significant other, which some say is convenient and serves as a measure of trust in the relationship, CNBC reports. Others say sharing that level of access could become an issue if a current or former significant other wants to cause some serious damage.
Many modern phones incorporate some level of biometric security — older iPhones use fingerprint technology while newer models use facial recognition, and plenty of Android phones utilize either method. This allows users to open their phones quickly without needing to remember or input a password, but additional fingerprints and faces can be granted access as well.
"I think that inherently, people desire to share themselves and to be known. Sharing your phone fingerprints demonstrates trust between two people, and that you are OK with being known by that person, and that they're OK with you knowing them too," said Emma Clarke, a 24-year-old who spoke with CNBC and has shared fingerprint access with a boyfriend in the past.
Here's the reasoning some young couples gave CNBC for granting biometric access to a significant other:
- It's convenient — you can switch songs while the other is driving, use apps that aren't on your phone, or use the phone for a task while the other is busy.
- It's a display of trust and intimacy.
- One person compared the action to putting a significant other in the "top friends" group on Myspace.
However, phones are powerful tools that are connected to most aspects of our online lives, and providing someone that level of access could prove troublesome if the relationship deteriorates, or if people in the relationship have different definitions of privacy. It's best to remember that biometric access can be revoked via the phone's settings.