Samsung has started to roll out a fix to the Galaxy S10
SAMSUNG HAS STARTED pushing out a fix for the fingerprint reader glitch plaguing Galaxy S10 and Note 10 devices.
The issue, first uncovered last week, allowed anyone’s fingerprints to be used to unlock Samsung smartphones with certain types of screen protectors installed. As per Samsung, the bug affects Galaxy Note 10, Note 10+, S10, S10+, and S10 5G models.
Samsung at the time promised a quick fix and it looks like the firm is delivering, as Android Central reports that an update is rolling out to handsets in South Korea, with Samsung promising that a patch will be available to all within 24 hours.
The company has pushed a notification to glitch-ridden devices, which explains: “If you’ve used a screen cover, such as a silicone cover with a texture on the inside, the texture itself may be recognised as a fingerprint than can unlock your phone.”
Naturally, Samsung is telling users who used a silicon screen protector to delete any previous fingerprints they had previously registered to the device once the update has been installed. It’s also, urging users to refrain from using silicon-based screen protectors.
In the note, Samsung reiterates that “it takes the security of our products very seriously. We sill strive to continually test and improve our biometric authentication features through further updates.”
The fix can’t arrive soon enough here in Blighty, as Reddit users this week revealed that UK banks Natwest and Nationwide Building Society have yanked support for fingerprint authentication on affected Samsung handsets.
“We’ve removed the app from the Play Store with customers with Samsung S10 devices,” Natwest said in a message sent to affected users. “This is due to reports that there are security concerns regarding these devices. We hope to have our app available again once the issue has been resolved.” µ