Amazon rolls out Amazon One palm recognition app

Amazon is streamlining how customers sign up for its Amazon One palm-based recognition service with a new app.

Initially released in 2020, Amazon One is a proprietary, generative AI-based technology that lets customers use their palm signature to pay or present a loyalty card at a store, as well as perform activities like enter a stadium or badge into work. The solution uses custom-built algorithms and hardware to create a person’s unique palm signature.

Previously, signing up for Amazon One required customers to insert their credit card in an Amazon One device at a physical retail location and then hover one or both palms over the device and follow the prompts to associate that card with the unique palm signature being built by the device’s computer vision technology in real time. 

Now, they can also sign up for Amazon One via the Amazon One app, available for iOS or Android devices. The new Amazon One app lets customers create their online profile by logging into their Amazon account, taking a photo of their palm(s), and adding a payment method, all within the app. 

Leveraging generative AI capabilities, the Amazon One system can match a camera phone photo of a user’s palm with near-infrared imagery from an Amazon One device. When a customer who signed up for Amazon One via the app hovers their palm over an Amazon One device the first time, the AI system is able to compare and match the palm and vein imagery captured by the Amazon One device with their camera phone photo, and at this time enrollment is considered complete.

Once they have signed up, customers can begin using Amazon One for payment, entry, age verification, and loyalty rewards by simply hovering their palm over an Amazon One device at U.S. Whole Foods stores, several Amazon stores, and more than 150 third-party locations such as stadiums, airports, fitness centers and convenience stores.

Palm images taken via the Amazon One app are encrypted and sent to a secure Amazon One domain in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. These images cannot be downloaded or saved to a user’s phone, and the mobile app includes additional layers of security.

"Customers love the convenience of Amazon One, and retailers and other businesses appreciate the fast, seamless, and secure experience it provides," Dilip Kumar, VP, AWS applications, said in a corporate blog post.