In light of an issue with the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner in the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 series, many Banks around the world are removing support to these smartphones from their apps. UK bank Nationwide Building Society has disabled the fingerprint login option in its app for Galaxy S10 owners, NatWest, another UK-based bank did the same.
The issue with ultrasonic fingerprint started while ago and it was caused by the use of cheap silicon screen protectors. This kind of screen protector has dot matrices so the clear protector wouldn’t stick to the smooth glass. Unfortunately, this bypasses the ultrasonic scanner, since it is enrolling the pattern on the silicone cover rather than the user’s finger. This way anyone can unlock the device by pressing the fingerprint area in these smartphones. Samsung promised an update that would not allow the ultrasonic sensor to work if any of these protective covers are installed in the smartphone. This way, users will need to opt between a cheap screen protector solution or their premium, but easily tricked ultrasonic sensor.