Replace passwords with biometrics, Incognia suggests in new Mobile App Friction Report

Incognia has released the latest edition of its Mobile App Friction Report focusing on login authentication and password reset trends, which finds that financial apps need to consider multi-factor authentication (MFA) alternatives, including biometrics, to their existing authentication methods.

The report reviewed 27 mobile apps from major financial institutions with the goal of providing firms with insights on the state of mobile app login authentication and the main causes of friction related to users resetting their password.

According to the new data, 26 out of 27 of the apps scrutinized still relied on passwords as the primary form of authentication, mainly in the form of one-time password (OTP) as the most common MFA method.

However, 24 of the apps also supported biometric authentication, including fingerprint, face, and voice authentication.

The Incognia report also pinpointed a number of elements of friction when it comes to users having to change their passwords.

Namely, the company mentioned the number of screens presented to users in order for them to complete the password change, the number of fields the user has to fill in to reset their password, and the overall amount of time the whole password reset process takes.

Among the reviewed apps, the average number of screens required to reset a password was 4.6, and the average number of fields required to reset a password was 4.2. The data also placed the average time to change a password at 1 minute and 12 seconds.

According to Incognia, eliminating this friction is crucial in today’s world, and particularly in the financial sector.

“Resetting a password on a mobile app is a huge waste of time and can greatly impact customer satisfaction,” said André Ferraz, founder, and CEO of Incognia. “This is especially important for fintech companies, whose customers seek to simplify their finances and lives.

The Mobile App Friction Report then calls for a swift and substantial shift to password authentication, based on biometric methods.

Incognia’s location-based, passive behavioral biometrics platform is designed according to these principles, and in particular to tackle mobile fraud detection and provide anonymized location insights.

“Incognia’s zero factor authentication offers the opportunity to remove both the password and password reset process for the vast majority of users,” Ferraz concluded.

Article Topics

access management  |  behavioral biometrics  |  biometrics  |  financial services  |  fintech  |  identity verification  |  Incognia  |  mobile app  |  multi-factor authentication