In a new roadmap quietly published by Microsoft at the weekend, it has been revealed that many Windows 10 users could soon turn to their phones for an alternative way of unlocking their PCs.
In a list of descriptions for various “in development” business features for Windows 10, one of the most intriguing is titled “Use your phone to unlock your Windows PC”. It details how a phone could serve as a “remote credential store which can be used to unlock any of your Windows 10 PCs.”
It is unclear how this phone-based unlocking would work; the feature is also currently described as being compatible only with Windows and Android handsets. Microsoft might be facing technical hurdles in bringing the feature to iPhones – but, should the Redmond firm overcome them, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor particularly strongly adopted for remote authentication.
As this unlocking feature is, right now, listed as “in development” rather than “in public preview”, it might not actually become available to the public until next year – when Microsoft could issue the update that follows this summer’s Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
