David Burke, director of Android engineering for Google Inc., speaks about the new Android operating system named 'Marshmallow' during an event in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. (Photo : Getty Images/David Paul Morris/Bloomberg )
Purchasing apps on Google Play will be much easier with the new Operating System, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which brings fingerprint authentication for faster authorization of purchases.
The latest OS brings a variety of great features to the fore and one of the biggest highlights is the inclusion of fingerprint support attributed to Android 6.0's new fingerprint application programming interface (API). To spice up things, this support is not only meant for safely unlocking a device or other operations limited to the phone's lock screen, but also extends to the Google Play store.
With this latest mobile OS from Google, users can authorize Play Store purchases with their fingerprint. The new option greatly increases convenience and security, while at the same time helping users save time when they shop.
The option was first spotted by Android Police in a teardown of the v5.9 customer sometime back in September, and the option is currently active for fingerprint sensor-installed handsets running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. At the moment, only the new Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P support the option.
Unfortunately, the fingerprint reader option is disabled by default, implying that users should specifically activate it in the Google Play store in case they wish to authorize payments using their fingerprint. To activate API, the user should open the Google Play app, go to settings, and click on user controls.
Under the user controls, the second option is the Fingerprint Authentication with a box to tick on or off for purposes of activating or deactivating fingerprint authorization for purchases. Enabling the option requires the user to check the Fingerprint Authentication box and enter his Google password the moment the Play Store prompts.
After activating the option, the user can buy items in the Play Store with a simple tap on the device's fingerprint sensor. Apart from the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X, future devices that will launch with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and have a fingerprint reader should support the option for Play Store purchases, according to Android.
