I was chatting with a colleague yesterday about this phone and the subject of the Touch ID feature came up. For those who don’t know, Touch ID is Apple’s version of a fingerprint reader, integrated in this model. Kurt asked it you could use your nose to unlock the phone.

*ping* a light went on.

So I tried it. I set a new fingerprint scan and used my nose to create it. And guess what…it works. After a fashion. I … more → ]]> I’ve been using my new iPhone 5s for a few weeks now. This isn’t a full review of the device.

I was chatting with a colleague yesterday about this phone and the subject of the Touch ID feature came up. For those who don’t know, Touch ID is Apple’s version of a fingerprint reader, integrated in this model. Kurt asked it you could use your nose to unlock the phone.

*ping* a light went on.

So I tried it. I set a new fingerprint scan and used my nose to create it. And guess what…it works. After a fashion. I have been able to unlock my phone using my nose.

The way you register a new fingerprint, is you repeatedly place the finger on the sensor, while it reads different parts of the print or perhaps different orientations. I’m not sure and it really doesn’t matter. What does matter, is registering your nose takes much longer than a finger. I can create a new fingerprint in less than a minute, but registering my nose took upwards of five minutes. However, once registered, it has been able to unlock my phone.

For whatever reason, unlocking the phone with my nose takes multiple attempts, where a finger usually only takes one, or sometimes two. The nose scan is not reliable, but it does work.

This got me to thinking (always a dangerous proposition). What about other body parts? I now have a scan of my elbow too. That works much more reliably than the nose scan.

This reminds me of the scene in Monsters vs. Aliens where someone is going into the war room and has to use multiple scans to enter: hand, foot, tongue, both elbows, and (ahem) fundament. Now that’s security!

So, in conclusion, if you suspect you might be losing the fingers you use to unlock your iPhone 5s, you could set an emergency ID on your nose.

Or perhaps some other part of your body. We won’t go into that.