Apple Patents iOS Unlocking Methods
It had been a major request from parents that iOS have different access levels and user accounts on the mobile devices. This movement is part of a bigger movement to keep children away from certain applications, for instance. On the desktop it’s already built in, and even Google has multiple user accounts on their tablets running Android 4.3 and higher. This new patent granted to Apple today describes a way of changing devices access based on who’s accessing the device.
The newly awarded patent describes a way in which the method used by a user to unlock the device via gesture-based input would determine what apps are made available, as well as what hardware functions. One gesture could unlock a certain set of apps, whereas another gesture could unlock a totally different set of apps and in theory neither apps could be viewable by the other party unless they had the master password for the device.
There is also part of the patent that allows users to gesture unlock the phone directly into a certain app. But what many are wondering is how you have such specific gestures that can’t be “mimicked” by other users, or in a child’s case, accidentally stumbled upon.