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Fingerprint sensor / unlock now working on the Fairphone 6 on Linux Mobile
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inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
(edited) Quote

https://twitterwebviewer.com/?tweet=2092708375465263166

302   Original
Midnitte beehaw.org Midnitte@beehaw.org
Joined: 2023-06-01
#2 · Quote Reply

What is "linux mobile"?

Do they mean Ubuntu Touch? Postmarket OS?

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rnercle sh.itjust.works merde@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-27
#3 · Quote Reply

x.com ?

no, thanks.

104
TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#4 · Quote Reply

What is "linux mobile"? Do they mean Ubuntu Touch? Postmarket OS?

Well most of the work is on the kernel so it applies to all distros.

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TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#5 · (edited) Quote Reply

Looks like he beat me to the punch, but this proves it is possible atleast. Coming soon to a fp6-img near you!

My version is also mostly ready. So expect a post about it soon.

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bowsertattoo piefed.social bowsertattoo@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-07-20
#6 · Quote Reply

you can be forced to biometrically unlock your phone by police

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TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#7 · (edited) Quote Reply

you can be forced to biometrically unlock your phone by police

Now that i am thinking about it, There should be nothing stopping you from mapping a specific finger to either wipe data or load into a decoy. I'll look into this.

EDIT: Confirmed, the reader gives the ID of which print was matched, so a userspace implementation for per finger macros should be possible, this goes beyond unlocking or duress too, in theory any script could be called from a specific finger?

Sounds like a cool feature!

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inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
#8 · Quote Reply

you can be forced to biometrically unlock your phone by police

Not if you don't register your fingerprint into the device in the first place

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TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#9 · Quote Reply

Not if you don't register your fingerprint into the device in the first place

Well then there's not much point to a fingerprint sensor is there xd

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inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
#10 · Quote Reply

Well then there's not much point to a fingerprint sensor is there xd

True, but if you're concerned about law enforcement forcing you to unlock your phone, PINs/passwords are still safer than fingerprint readers or cameras

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zikzak025 lemmy.world zikzak025@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-12-24
#11 · (edited) Quote Reply

you can be forced to biometrically unlock your phone by police

Makes me wonder why no mainstream Android fork has bothered implementing a duress fingerprint feature. Maybe this is an opportunity for Linux phones.

Graphene has a duress PIN, but I'd like to see a feature where using the wrong fingerprint both locks the phone and opens into a fake, nondescript home screen to deceive the authorities.

The only other protection for anyone using biometrics at the moment is to reboot the device, which will always default to PIN unlock, but not so easy to do when caught by the authorities unawares.

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MalReynolds slrpnk.net MalReynolds@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2023-06-25
#12 · Quote Reply

Now that i am thinking about it, There should be nothing stopping you from mapping a specific finger to either wipe data or load into a decoy. I'll look into this. EDIT: Confirmed, the reader gives the ID of which print was matched, so a userspace implementation for per finger macros should be possible, this goes beyond unlocking or duress too, in theory any script could be called from a specif...

Yah, but you better be damn sure it's bulletproof recognition, especially for the wipe variant, although, being Linux a good backup strategy is a viable option, maybe gate it behind a successful restore. Seems like it could be easy to just use the wrong finger too, perhaps your subconscious hates you today. Still, options are always good.

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TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#13 · Quote Reply

Yah, but you better be damn sure it's bulletproof recognition, especially for the wipe variant, although, being Linux a good backup strategy is a viable option, maybe gate it behind a successful restore. Seems like it could be easy to just use the wrong finger too, perhaps your subconscious hates you today. Still, options are always good.

Well that's not really under my control as i don't make the sensor, but it does expose an accuracy value, so the user can set their own threshold.

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bowsertattoo piefed.social bowsertattoo@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-07-20
#14 · Quote Reply

Not if you don't register your fingerprint into the device in the first place

yeah i never use biometrics

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MalReynolds slrpnk.net MalReynolds@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2023-06-25
#15 · Quote Reply

Well that's not really under my control as i don't make the sensor, but it does expose an accuracy value, so the user can set their own threshold.

Well that’s not really under my control

Not implying it was, just pointing out the foot shooting scenario.

Thanks again for the great work.

9
inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
#16 · Quote Reply

Looks like he beat me to the punch, but this proves it is possible atleast. Coming soon to a fp6-img near you! My version is also mostly ready. So expect a post about it soon.

Unrelated, but have you programmed the Moments button to do anything in your fp6 image?

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shortwavesurfer lemmy.zip shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2024-01-08
#17 · Quote Reply

Yah, but you better be damn sure it's bulletproof recognition, especially for the wipe variant, although, being Linux a good backup strategy is a viable option, maybe gate it behind a successful restore. Seems like it could be easy to just use the wrong finger too, perhaps your subconscious hates you today. Still, options are always good.

I have touched the fingerprint reader on accident with the incorrect finger when picking the device up or something because it's on the side with the power button, but I have never had an issue where I've meant to unlock my device with the correct finger and used the wrong finger instead.

I have used the wrong finger on purpose in order to press the power button in order to bring up my lock screen without actually unlocking the phone to see the time or whatever, though so perhaps a 3 strikes your out rule would be best where if you hit the fingerprint reader with the wrong finger 3 times in a row it would then wipe

Let's say my pointer finger is the registered finger for the reader. If I want to unlock my phone, I'll just touch the fingerprint reader with my pointer finger and the phone is unlocked. If I wanted to say interact with a running media file, or check the time, I would deliberately press the power button with my middle finger, that way it registers it as a press to bring up the lock screen, but does not unlock the phone. And then, when I want into the phone next time, I would touch the fingerprint reader with my pointer finger to unlock it. If I am picking my phone up off of a table, for example, and my ring finger just happens to touch the fingerprint reader, it's obviously not going to recognize, and then once I get the phone in my hand properly, I would use my pointer finger to unlock it.

This is why I think perhaps a three-time rule might work, where if you deliberately touch the fingerprint reader three times within a short period of time with the incorrect finger, it would initiate a wipe.

I'm thinking maybe like within 10 seconds.

8
TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#18 · Quote Reply

Unrelated, but have you programmed the Moments button to do anything in your fp6 image?

No, it currently does nothing. No idea if its even in the DTS.

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TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#19 · Quote Reply

I have touched the fingerprint reader on accident with the incorrect finger when picking the device up or something because it's on the side with the power button, but I have never had an issue where I've meant to unlock my device with the correct finger and used the wrong finger instead. I have used the wrong finger on purpose in order to press the power button in order to bring up my lock scr...

Could probably also make it a sequence of several fingers to reduce risk even further.

9
TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#20 · Quote Reply

No, it currently does nothing. No idea if its even in the DTS.

I suppose i can't claim true 100% hardware support without having it work and it doesn't seem much trouble so i think i'll add it as an edev and the user can decide what to do with it.

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inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
#21 · (edited) Quote Reply

I suppose i can't claim true 100% hardware support without having it work and it doesn't seem much trouble so i think i'll add it as an edev and the user can decide what to do with it.

Nice! It might be a good idea to set it by default to turn on Do Not Disturb mode, to keep the functionality similar to the original OS.

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potter2010 lemmy.ca potter2010@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-03-13
#22 · Quote Reply

Makes me wonder why no mainstream Android fork has bothered implementing a duress fingerprint feature. Maybe this is an opportunity for Linux phones. Graphene has a duress PIN, but I'd like to see a feature where using the wrong fingerprint both locks the phone and opens into a fake, nondescript home screen to deceive the authorities. The only other protection for anyone using biometrics at the...

GrapheneOS does have a duress fingerprint feature, but I believe the only result is to wipe the phone. A dummy profile option would be great. I could see this becoming an option in the future with the US authorities going after a couple people recently for wiping their phones with a duress pin/fingerprint.

11
hornedfiend sopuli.xyz hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-05
#23 · Quote Reply

No, it currently does nothing. No idea if its even in the DTS.

You guys are seriously amazing! Thank you for sticking through the pain!

16
Rentlar lemmy.ca Rentlar@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-03-14
#24 · Quote Reply

Now that i am thinking about it, There should be nothing stopping you from mapping a specific finger to either wipe data or load into a decoy. I'll look into this. EDIT: Confirmed, the reader gives the ID of which print was matched, so a userspace implementation for per finger macros should be possible, this goes beyond unlocking or duress too, in theory any script could be called from a specif...

Oooh that's cool! Thumb for normal unlock, index finger for launch camera, middle finger for duress would be neat.

6
AItoothbrush lemmy.zip AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2023-06-12
#25 · Quote Reply

Looks like he beat me to the punch, but this proves it is possible atleast. Coming soon to a fp6-img near you! My version is also mostly ready. So expect a post about it soon.

At least he did something usefull this time, tho still posted it on xitter

7
Carrot lemmy.today Carrot@lemmy.today
Joined: 2023-10-01
#26 · Quote Reply

you can be forced to biometrically unlock your phone by police

On GrapheneOS, I use a feature that blocks fingerprint for unlocking the phone, but still allows it for accessing apps. No idea how hard it'd be to implement that here, but it makes this work useful even to security/privacy conscious folks

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ArchEngel lemmy.ca ArchEngel@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-04-07
#27 · Quote Reply

Oooh that's cool! Thumb for normal unlock, index finger for launch camera, middle finger for duress would be neat.

Good thinking on the camera launch, and middle finger for duress is just... :chefskiss:

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WhyJiffie sh.itjust.works WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-07-11
#28 · Quote Reply

nitter instances down for legal reasons, archive.org also refuses to archive this site.. I guess I'm not gonna read it then

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WhyJiffie sh.itjust.works WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-07-11
#29 · Quote Reply

Oooh that's cool! Thumb for normal unlock, index finger for launch camera, middle finger for duress would be neat.

give them the middle finger!!

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jlow slrpnk.net jlow@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2026-04-09
#30 · Quote Reply

That's cool, I guess, though I'll never use it for obvious reasons.

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TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#31 · (edited) Quote Reply

Nice! It might be a good idea to set it by default to turn on Do Not Disturb mode, to keep the functionality similar to the original OS.

I looked into this and it's already in, its in /dev/input/event2 emitting SW_MUTE_DEVICE events.

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LaLuzDelSol lemmy.world LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-17
#32 · Quote Reply

That's cool, I guess, though I'll never use it for obvious reasons.

Sorry about the meat slicer accident :(

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Shayeta feddit.org Shayeta@feddit.org
Joined: 2025-02-24
#33 · Quote Reply

That's cool, I guess, though I'll never use it for obvious reasons.

With the lockdown on Android apps I was thinking of switching to a linux phone, what happened?

3
balsoft lemmy.ml balsoft@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2024-06-10
#34 · Quote Reply

What is "linux mobile"? Do they mean Ubuntu Touch? Postmarket OS?

I guess it's going to be writing a linux driver for the sensor or adapting an existing one so that it picks up this particular device ID, and then some udev & pam rules to make it play nicely with the rest of the system. So it's vaguely distro-agnostic.

5
balsoft lemmy.ml balsoft@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2024-06-10
#35 · Quote Reply

With the lockdown on Android apps I was thinking of switching to a linux phone, what happened?

You should not use biometric identification because it's much easier to force you to unlock the phone than with a pin or password.

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hornedfiend sopuli.xyz hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-05
#36 · (edited) Quote Reply

nitter instances down for legal reasons, archive.org also refuses to archive this site.. I guess I'm not gonna read it then

Here you go my brother in Linux: https://archive.ph/7kev3

Edit: archive only archives pages, not videos.

4
bowsertattoo piefed.social bowsertattoo@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-07-20
#37 · Quote Reply

On GrapheneOS, I use a feature that blocks fingerprint for unlocking the phone, but still allows it for accessing apps. No idea how hard it'd be to implement that here, but it makes this work useful even to security/privacy conscious folks

noice

1
Rooster326 programming.dev Rooster326@programming.dev
Joined: 2025-09-25
#38 · (edited) Quote Reply

You should not use biometric identification because it's much easier to force you to unlock the phone than with a pin or password.

To be more specific

What you know is legally protected. What you are is not.

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Shayeta feddit.org Shayeta@feddit.org
Joined: 2025-02-24
#39 · Quote Reply

You should not use biometric identification because it's much easier to force you to unlock the phone than with a pin or password.

I'm not, and not what I asked.

1
balsoft lemmy.ml balsoft@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2024-06-10
#40 · Quote Reply

I'm not, and not what I asked.

I think there were two levels of misunderstanding, by bad.

In my understanding jlow (OC) is talking about not using biometric identification, and you misinterpreted it as not using Linux on Fairphone. I then misinterpreted your comment to mean "why should I not use biometric identification when I switch to Mobile Linux" and responded to that.

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ironpangolin29 lemmy.ca ironpangolin29@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2026-08-10
#41 · (edited) Quote Reply

I dont know why they're making fingerprint a big deal. It's actually a bad thing.

It's cool if you're 10 and just watched a sci-fi movie sure but ultimately should be phased out of android/Linux.

-1
hornedfiend sopuli.xyz hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-05
#42 · Quote Reply

I dont know why they're making fingerprint a big deal. It's actually a bad thing. It's cool if you're 10 and just watched a sci-fi movie sure but ultimately should be phased out of android/Linux.

"Arguably a bad thing" rather. It's better than face unlock for what it's worth.

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Squirrelanna lemmy.blahaj.zone Squirrelanna@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-09-09
#43 · Quote Reply

Sorry about the meat slicer accident :(

Damn mandolin locked me out of my phone.

2
Shayeta feddit.org Shayeta@feddit.org
Joined: 2025-02-24
#44 · Quote Reply

I think there were two levels of misunderstanding, by bad. In my understanding jlow (OC) is talking about not using biometric identification, and you misinterpreted it as not using Linux on Fairphone. I then misinterpreted your comment to mean "why should I not use biometric identification when I switch to Mobile Linux" and responded to that.

Understanable, have a nice day.

1
x00z lemmy.world x00z@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-07-26
#45 · Quote Reply

I dont know why they're making fingerprint a big deal. It's actually a bad thing. It's cool if you're 10 and just watched a sci-fi movie sure but ultimately should be phased out of android/Linux.

I like unlocking things with my fingerprint. But I go by the assumption that the technical fingerprints of my fingerprint are stored securely and aren't even accessible by the OS.

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TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#46 · Quote Reply

I dont know why they're making fingerprint a big deal. It's actually a bad thing. It's cool if you're 10 and just watched a sci-fi movie sure but ultimately should be phased out of android/Linux.

Why should it be phased out?

Its completely optional.

4
Solrac lemmy.world Solrac@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-03
#47 · Quote Reply

A Spicy comment, but my perspective nevertheless. We've given this guy the correct place to post and talk about, and collaborate development for the fairphone 6.... They are yet to come here, as far as I know.

If this is the same person who has been Pro-AI for his "Development" and has also yet to publish his source code, why are we still giving attention?

Under any other circumstances, specially if it were with another phone, I'd just complain about being in the wrong platform and using AI, but, The Fairphone 6 has had leaps and bounds of development, published to the mainline kernel, and also documented extensively in here, long before this person started posting in a dead "social" network.

I complain because it sometimes feels like they're riding off the efforts of others, at best, and wasting a LOT of water at the very least. Feels unethical either way.

5
ironpangolin29 lemmy.ca ironpangolin29@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2026-08-10
#48 · Quote Reply

Why should it be phased out? Its completely optional.

Takes cpu time.

-2
Solrac lemmy.world Solrac@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-03
#49 · Quote Reply

I looked into this and it's already in, its in /dev/input/event2 emitting SW_MUTE_DEVICE events.

This might be silly to ask, but could it be piped into a script for alternate functionality? For example, in e/OS, the default setting is to disable access to Microphone and Camera... I am aware there's not hardware switch for them, but if a there's a script later down the line to facilitate that, it'd be neat to run it with said switch too.

3
TheMightyCat ani.social TheMightyCat@ani.social
Joined: 2025-06-30
#50 · Quote Reply

This might be silly to ask, but could it be piped into a script for alternate functionality? For example, in e/OS, the default setting is to disable access to Microphone and Camera... I am aware there's not hardware switch for them, but if a there's a script later down the line to facilitate that, it'd be neat to run it with said switch too.

Yes, since its just a reguler edev you can do trigger any script you want with it.

4
cabbage piefed.social cabbage@piefed.social
Joined: 2024-01-08
#51 · Quote Reply

Could probably also make it a sequence of several fingers to reduce risk even further.

I think a good decoy feature would be to insert a specific pass phrase to not reset the entire device, but to permanently delete specific (pre-specified) folders on the phone such as chat logs, documents, and specific apps.

GrapheneOS wipes the device, and that's apparently enough to get people in trouble in the US. If the phone kept on working as normal without notifying anyone of anything unusual, but deleted sensitive documents behind the scenes, that would be really cool for these types of situations.

I'm not sure fingerprints would be useful for this. You can always just enter a pass phrase instead, and it would be very annoying to trigger it by accident which would almost certainly happen to some people. It would be neat if different fingerprints could be used to load different user profiles.

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