Natwest and RBS are adding TouchID to their iOS banking apps

The Royal Bank of Scotland group, the owner of RBS and Natwest, has announced that from today iPhone users will be able to accessits mobile banking apps using Apple’s TouchID fingerprint scanner.

Setting up TouchID within the RBS and Natwest iOS apps will allow customers to access a limited number of mobile banking services without having to type in their passcode. Saving themselves a few precious seconds in the process.

But TouchID is only being used to make accessing the account easier. Customers will still be required to go through verification processes to send money to people, and as aways7 there will be limits on new payments.

Security experts have criticised TouchID for not being secure enough in the past, but it’s certainly a lot better then setting your 4-digit passcode as 1234 isn’t it? Fingerprints are stored locally, so unless hackers can get hold of your phone and an exact copy of your fingerprint then it does make it much more difficult for them to access.

In any case it’s nice to see that TouchID is being used to access more and more important apps, rather than just unlocking your iPhone.