Online Banking with Emojis Instead of Passwords

Do we dare call it “emoji-metric authentication”?

Courtesy of Intelligent Environments, online banking customers in the U.K. will soon be able to access their online banking accounts using emojis instead of passwords. The emoji-password technology is now a part of the Intelligent Environments online banking app, currently available on Android. Intelligent Environments says that it is in conversations to banks looking at making the technology and the app available to customers “within the next 12 months.”

Online banking customers will use a combination of four emoji characters (chosen from 44 different options) instead of PINs or alphanumerical passwords. Intelligent Environments says that its emoji-based passcode technology is more secure than traditional passwords, having “480 times more permutations … over traditional four-digit passcode,” The emoji passcode also has the benefit of being relatively easier to remember for many people compared to recalling traditional passwords.

“Our research shows 64% of millennials regularly communicate only using emojis,” said Intelligent Environments Chairman David Webber. “So we decided to reinvent the passcode for a new generation by developing the world’s first emoji security technology.”