Check if devices has biometric enabled with androidx biometric prompt

Question

In Android BiometricPrompt prompt has replaced the deprecated FingerprintManager. FingerPrintManager has two functions hasEnrolledFingerprints() and isHardwareDetected() to check if the device supports fingerprints and if the user has enrolled any fingerprint authentication.

With the new BiometricPrompt it seems there are no functions to check this without trying to prompt the BiometricPrompt. There is a BiometricPrompt.AuthenticationCallback.onAuthenticationError( that is called with an error code indicating if the device supports biometric and if the user has biometric authentication enrolled.

So I can only get this information if I try to authenticate from the user. Is there a way to check without trying to prompt the authentication to check if the device supports biometrics and the user has enrolled them?

Possible duplicate of [Determine if biometric hardware is present and the user has enrolled biometrics on Android P](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50968732/determine-if-biometric-hardware-is-present-and-the-user-has-enrolled-biometrics) — Gabor, Sep 12 '19 at 05:19
This has been added recently to the androidx one in beta01 or beta02, i forget which — nAndroid, Oct 11 '19 at 18:37

James J · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-20T16:09:03.957

11

AndroidX Biometric beta01 added BiometricManager.canAuthenticate(int) (formerly BiometricManager.canAuthenticate())

Use the following dependency line in your app module's build.gradle file.

implementation 'androidx.biometric:biometric:1.1.0'

Then you can do the following to check if any biometrics are ready for use on the device.

BiometricManager.from(context).canAuthenticate(int) == BiometricManager.BIOMETRIC_SUCCESS

On Android 6 to 9 this only supports fingerprints. On 10 and above it will support any biometric (eg. face, iris).

edited Jul 20 '21 at 16:09

answered Sep 09 '19 at 18:29

James J

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```canAuthenticate()``` is deprecated Use ```canAuthenticate(int)``` instead. – Ganesh MB Jul 19 '21 at 12:17

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 21 '19 at 23:15

If you are using compileSdkVersion 29 and buildToolsVersion "29.0.1". You can use a native check method.

I wrote this function for Kotlin:

 fun checkForBiometrics() : Boolean {
    Log.d(TAG, "checkForBiometrics started")
    var canAuthenticate = true
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 29) {
            val keyguardManager : KeyguardManager = applicationContext.getSystemService(KEYGUARD_SERVICE) as KeyguardManager
            val packageManager : PackageManager   = applicationContext.packageManager
            if(!packageManager.hasSystemFeature(PackageManager.FEATURE_FINGERPRINT)) {
                Log.w(TAG, "checkForBiometrics, Fingerprint Sensor not supported")
                canAuthenticate = false
            }
            if (!keyguardManager.isKeyguardSecure) {
                Log.w(TAG, "checkForBiometrics, Lock screen security not enabled in Settings")
                canAuthenticate = false
            }
        } else {
            val biometricManager : BiometricManager = this.getSystemService(BiometricManager::class.java)
            if(biometricManager.canAuthenticate() != BiometricManager.BIOMETRIC_SUCCESS){
                Log.w(TAG, "checkForBiometrics, biometrics not supported")
                canAuthenticate = false
            }
        }
    }else{
        canAuthenticate = false
    }
    Log.d(TAG, "checkForBiometrics ended, canAuthenticate=$canAuthenticate ")
    return canAuthenticate
}

Additional, you have to implement on you app gradle file as dependecy:

implementation 'androidx.biometric:biometric:1.0.0-alpha04'

and also use the newest build tools:

compileSdkVersion 29
buildToolsVersion "29.0.1"

Manoj Perumarath · Answer 3 · 2019-05-28T09:46:23.163

2

FingerPrintManager has the data regarding fingerpint authentication only, hence it has hasEnrolledFringers(). But BiometricPrompt is used for face unlock, finerprint, iris. It's like a common manager class. Google has added canAuthenticate which supports from Android Q. But you can check it for lower API using

if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M){
       val hasBiometricFeature :Boolean = context.packageManager.hasSystemFeature(PackageManager.FEATURE_FINGERPRINT)

Anyway, Google has also added it to androidx components androidx.biometric:biometric

implementation 'androidx.biometric:biometric:1.0.0-alpha04'

uses permission

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_BIOMETRIC" />

on `AuthenticationCallback'

public void onAuthenticationError(int errorCode, CharSequence errString) {}

you can check the error codes with the ones

/**
 * The user does not have any biometrics enrolled.
 */
int BIOMETRIC_ERROR_NO_BIOMETRICS = 11;

edited May 28 '19 at 09:46

answered May 28 '19 at 08:58

Manoj Perumarath

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I use `androidx.biometric:biometric:1.0.0-alpha04` but it seems there is no way for checking it in advance. – Stephan May 28 '19 at 09:04
yes this works for checking if there is a fingerprint reader available on the device, but not if the user has enrolled a fingerprint. – Stephan May 28 '19 at 09:14
@EarlOfEgo This prompt will be showing if there is atleast one fingerprint is regsitered – Manoj Perumarath May 28 '19 at 09:25
Yes that is correct, but my question was to check this without showing the prompt. – Stephan May 28 '19 at 09:28
@EarlOfEgo you can have a callback, where there is an error type, that's all, see updated answer – Manoj Perumarath May 28 '19 at 09:46

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 01 '22 at 11:38

 /**
   * Check For Biometrics Support
   * --> Fingerprint don't support in this device
   * --> Fingerprint not enable in this device
  */

    fun checkForBiometricsSupport(context: Context): Boolean {
        val status = BiometricManager.from(context).canAuthenticate(BiometricManager.Authenticators.BIOMETRIC_WEAK)
        return status == BiometricManager.BIOMETRIC_SUCCESS
    }

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 28 '19 at 08:28

0

Use BiometricManager it has a method

canAuthenticate()

it returns

BIOMETRIC_ERROR_NONE_ENROLLED if the user does not have any enrolled
BIOMETRIC_ERROR_HW_UNAVAILABLE if none are currently supported/enabled
BIOMETRIC_SUCCESS if a biometric can currently be used (enrolled and available)
BIOMETRIC_ERROR_NO_HARDWARE

Check out the official documentation https://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/biometrics/BiometricManager.html

answered May 28 '19 at 08:28

shb

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This has been added in Android Q, is there a way to check in pre Q versions, best with the androidx version? – Stephan May 28 '19 at 08:40

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 13 '22 at 07:36

Following is the latest implementation in Kotlin with Biometric Authentication as of today :

Step 1 : Add following dependency in build.gradle

implementation "androidx.biometric:biometric:1.1.0"

Step 2 : Add following permission in AndroidManifest.xml

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.USE_BIOMETRIC" />

Step 3 : Add following method to check if biometric is enabled :

    /**
     * To check if the devices supports biometric authentication
     */
    fun isBioMetricEnabled(ctx: Context) : Boolean    {
        val biometricManager = BiometricManager.from(ctx)
        return biometricManager.canAuthenticate(BiometricManager.Authenticators.BIOMETRIC_WEAK) ==
                BiometricManager.BIOMETRIC_SUCCESS
    }

For complete biometric authentication implementation refer :

Android BiometricPrompt.Builder.authenticate() not showing any dialog

Check if devices has biometric enabled with androidx biometric prompt

6 Answers6