Amazon Begins Massive Rollout of Fingerprint Payments

Amazon will expand its Amazon One palm print checkout system to dozens of Whole Foods stores, the most significant expansion of the technology introduced in 2020.

Amazon One allows customers to quickly pay at points of sale using only their handprints after saving a scan of their hand through an interface in Amazon kiosks. The palm print data is encrypted and stored on Amazon’s servers. And before you get too worried about COVID-19 transmission or future pandemics, Amazon One works when you put your palm on the scanner – unlike some fingerprint technologies.

Amazon originally added the technology to its Amazon Go stores and Amazon Books stores, which are now closed. It then made its way to several Whole Foods stores in the Seattle area. (Amazon has owned Whole Foods since 2017.)

Time will tell if it will take root; The benefit to consumers may seem minimal compared to other contactless phone payments. Amazon has also explored more drastic checkout technologies, like one that lets you just grab what you want and leave without going to the checkout, as long as you have an account with the company.

The company’s storage of customers’ handprints has raised some criticism and concern.

Amazon One opened to third parties in September, starting with concert venues. But famed Red Rocks amphitheater outside Denver has abandoned plans to adopt the technology as artists and privacy advocates launched a campaign called “Amazon Doesn’t Rock “to urge establishments not to use biometric authentication.

Prior to this, TechCrunch reported that US senators have approached Amazon with burning questions about how the company will use handprint data. A few weeks earlier, Amazon launched a program offering customers a $10 credit to register their palm data in the system.