Top Android Biometric Authentication Libraries

In today’s high-tech world, securing user data is paramount, and one of the most effective ways to ensure security is through biometric authentication. Developers often face challenges such as integrating this seamlessly into their applications, ensuring robustness, and keeping up with various biometric methods like fingerprints, face recognition, and more. Thankfully, several Kotlin-supported biometric libraries are available to simplify this process. This tutorial covers some of the best biometric authentication libraries for Kotlin Android, offering in-depth knowledge, features, installation guides, and code examples to help you get started.

1. AndroidX Biometric Library

The AndroidX Biometric Library is Google's official library for integrating biometric authentication into Android applications. It supports fingerprint, face, and iris authentication and is consistently updated and maintained by Google.

Features

  • Supports fingerprint, face, and iris authentication.
  • Provides a unified API that works across various Android versions.
  • Handles UI components and the authentication flow natively.
  • Offers robust error handling and fallback mechanisms.

Installation

To integrate the AndroidX Biometric Library into your Kotlin Android project, add the following dependency to your build.gradle file:. 

implementation "androidx.biometric:biometric:1.2.0-alpha03"

Code Example

This example demonstrates how to implement fingerprint authentication using the AndroidX Biometric Library.

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import androidx.biometric.BiometricPrompt
import androidx.core.content.ContextCompat

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    private lateinit var biometricPrompt: BiometricPrompt
    private lateinit var promptInfo: BiometricPrompt.PromptInfo

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        val executor = ContextCompat.getMainExecutor(this)
        biometricPrompt = BiometricPrompt(this, executor, object : BiometricPrompt.AuthenticationCallback() {
            override fun onAuthenticationError(errorCode: Int, errString: CharSequence) {
                super.onAuthenticationError(errorCode, errString)
                // Handle authentication error
            }

            override fun onAuthenticationSucceeded(result: BiometricPrompt.AuthenticationResult) {
                super.onAuthenticationSucceeded(result)
                // Handle authentication success
            }

            override fun onAuthenticationFailed() {
                super.onAuthenticationFailed()
                // Handle authentication failure
            }
        })

        promptInfo = BiometricPrompt.PromptInfo.Builder()
            .setTitle("Biometric login for my app")
            .setSubtitle("Log in using your biometric credential")
            .setNegativeButtonText("Use account password")
            .build()

        // Trigger the biometric authentication prompt
        biometricPrompt.authenticate(promptInfo)
    }
}

The code initializes a BiometricPrompt and sets up PromptInfo to provide information to the user. It then configures handlers for success, failure, and errors.

Comparison

Compared to other libraries, the AndroidX Biometric Library:.

  • Is officially supported by Google, ensuring long-term maintenance and support.
  • Provides a consistent and unified API across different Android versions.
  • Is relatively straightforward to implement and requires minimal configuration.

Reference

AndroidX Biometric Library

2. FingerprintManagerCompat

The FingerprintManagerCompat is a part of the AndroidX support library that provides a backward-compatible way to integrate fingerprint authentication.

Features

  • Works on API level 23 and above.
  • Provides backward compatibility for older Android versions.
  • Simple and easy to use API.

Installation

To add FingerprintManagerCompat to your project, include the following in your build.gradle:. 

implementation "androidx.core:core:1.7.0"

Code Example

Below is an example of how to use FingerprintManagerCompat for fingerprint authentication.

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import androidx.core.hardware.fingerprint.FingerprintManagerCompat
import androidx.core.os.CancellationSignal

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    private lateinit var fingerprintManager: FingerprintManagerCompat
    private lateinit var cancellationSignal: CancellationSignal

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        fingerprintManager = FingerprintManagerCompat.from(this)

        if (fingerprintManager.isHardwareDetected) {
            cancellationSignal = CancellationSignal()
            fingerprintManager.authenticate(null, 0, cancellationSignal, object : FingerprintManagerCompat.AuthenticationCallback() {
                override fun onAuthenticationError(errMsgId: Int, errString: CharSequence) {
                    super.onAuthenticationError(errMsgId, errString)
                    // Handle authentication error
                }

                override fun onAuthenticationSucceeded(result: FingerprintManagerCompat.AuthenticationResult) {
                    super.onAuthenticationSucceeded(result)
                    // Handle authentication success
                }

                override fun onAuthenticationFailed() {
                    super.onAuthenticationFailed()
                    // Handle authentication failure
                }
            }, null)
        }
    }

    override fun onStop() {
        super.onStop()
        cancellationSignal.cancel()
    }
}

This code initializes a FingerprintManagerCompat object and uses it to authenticate the user’s fingerprint. It handles success, failure, and error callbacks while ensuring that the process is canceled when the activity stops.

Comparison

Compared to AndroidX Biometric Library:.

  • FingerprintManagerCompat focuses solely on fingerprint authentication, whereas the AndroidX Biometric Library supports various biometric methods.
  • Offers backward compatibility down to API level 23, while the AndroidX Biometric Library works from API level 29.
  • It is a bit more outdated compared to the modern approach provided by the AndroidX Biometric Library.

Reference

FingerprintManagerCompat

Additional Libraries

Here are some additional Android libraries that you can explore for biometric authentication: