Thomas Hampel

 22 March 2016
In general IBM Verse mobile app on iOS supports Apple's TouchID for authentication.
And we might agree that using fingerprints for unlocking phone is not only a convenient way for busy people, its also more secure than a 4 (or 6) digit passcode that anyone can get by shoulder surfing

According to Going Mobile with IBM Verse ( see slide #44 ) this feature seems to be available only for on premises Domino servers so unfortunately IBM Connections Cloud users cant use it.
Well... lets see :)

First some basics
To enable TouchID support In an on premises environment, an admin needs to update the on prem Domino Directory using this template which contains a new tab for IBM Verse Security settings.

Which can be allowed or prohibited...

and of course those settings are applied to a user using Domino policies.
Applying the same policy to a Connections Cloud (hybrid configuration) user unfortunately has no effect. TouchID support will remain disabled.
So far about the simple stuff.

Peeking into Policies and Profiles:
When enabling this setting in an OnPrem environment, a field named "devPapplAppTouchID" is set to "1" in the policy settings document.
Taking a closer look into the user's mail file using NotesPeek the same field name can be found in a profile document called "travelerprofile"

Comparing this traveler profile document of an OnPrem user with a user in Connections Cloud shows that the field does not exist.
...so if this is the only reason for the TouchID not to work, lets try to set it :)

Activate TouchID support for Connections Cloud users
All we need to do is set the field "devPapplAppTouchID" to a value of "1" in the "travelerprofile".
To do that use the following code in an agent or button...

     Dim s As New NotesSession
     Dim profile As NotesDocument
     Set profile = s.CurrentDatabase.GetProfileDocument ("travelerprofile")
     If Not profile.IsNewNote And profile.IsValid Then
             If profile.getitemvalue ("devPapplAppTouchID")(0) = "" Then
                     Call profile.replaceitemvalue ("devPapplAppTouchID","1")
                     Call profile.save(True,False)
                     Msgbox "TouchID support has been enabled."
             End If
     End If

Once this code runs against the current mail file the missing field is set and a couple of minutes later TouchID support for the IBM Verse App will be enabled on your Phone.
Hint : In case you're working in a local replica, make sure to replicate

Please note the method described above is not officially supported, so please use at your own risk!

References:

• Technote 1699618 - New Domino Directory Template with IBM Verse Security Settings tab
• IBM Connect 2016 Presentation 1129 Going Mobile with IBM Verse, by Rene Winkelmeyer & Stijn Van Herzele
• Technote 4005686 - NotesPeek 1.53 tool for viewing Notes databases