Patent Unlocked - Apple's Double-Click To Pay From The Lock Screen

Introduction: Double‑Click Payments and Patentability at the EPO

Many of us will be aware of Apple's double click to pay functionality, in which payments can be made without unlocking the iPhone. Interestingly, this technology was at the center of a recently-published decision by the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office in T 0035/20 (https://www.epo.org/en/boards-of-appeal/decisions/t200035eu1). The claimed invention of the patent application, EP3251068, relates to improved contactless payment without needing to unlock the smartphone to open the payment software. Payment can be made from the lock screen while access to the other functions and data of the device remains protected while the payment is carried out, as will be familiar to iPhone users. In the present case, the fingerprint sensor of the home button is used to activate the payment mechanism by double pressing the home button within a predetermined time period (such as 300 ms). If only one press is detected, the