All-screen fingerprint unlock tech is a cool thing, allowing you to tap anywhere on the display to unlock the phone. Now, Huawei has confirmed that it’s filed a patent for the tech in six markets (China, Europe, the US, Japan, Korea and India), and that it’s pending approval.


The Chinese brand has also outlined a few potential use-cases for the technology, such as requiring fingerprint verification for individual app icons (e.g. phone gallery). This idea isn’t new, as we’ve seen OEMs offer app lock functionality for a while now. But it does mean you can theoretically unlock and launch the app in one go rather than tapping the icon and then tapping your existing in-display fingerprint sensor or traditional physical scanner.


Huawei also mentions the ability to quickly enter the SMS app to view and respond to texts without having to unlock the phone first. This could therefore make lockscreen interactions far more streamlined, as merely tapping a lockscreen widget or notification could theoretically unlock the device right away.


The manufacturer adds that users will have the freedom to “activate sensors in a chosen area on the screen while deactivating the rest on the screen space” in order to reduce power consumption. This sounds like you might be able to disable the sensors in the top third of the screen if you only tend to use the bottom third and middle for authentication, for instance.


This wouldn’t be the first time we see this tech touted by a brand though, as the Vivo Apex 2019 concept phone had all-screen fingerprint unlock too. So you have to think that any patent filing for the tech by Huawei would face some resistance. Nevertheless, it certainly seems like this is the way forward for biometric authentication.