User Authentication Interfaces in Mobile Devices: Some Design Considerations

The use of mobile devices has been increasing for the last decade. With more powerful capabilities, they are replacing desktop computers. With this, there are also security concerns, one of which is the user authentication. When dealing with mobile phones, an important aspect is usability, as often users may play more importance to how usable programs or functionalities are than how secure they may be. In this paper, we look at user authentication from the perspective of usability. We aim to see what can constitute secure user authentication interfaces for mobile devices. We explore what has been done, and what considerations, from both the hardware to software to usability issues of these interfaces. We hope that just as important as security is, designers should also look at usability concerns.