Alipay now supports facial recognition login

A visitor tries out the facial recognition login function of Alipay at an Internet finance expo in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Nov 20, 2015. [Photo / IC]

BEIJING - Alipay, China's largest digital payment service, run by e-commerce giant Alibaba, has begun to provide consumers with a simpler and more secure login method - facial recognition login, the Beijing Daily reported.

The technology has achieved a success rate of over 90 percent during the experimental beta phase, although it now only works with iOS and some Android smartphones.

Users can enable logins by scanning their faces with a smartphones in a place full of light.

A team in Alibaba's subsidiary firm and finance affiliate Ant Financial is developing the face recognition technology for use with the Alipay online payment service and Alipay Wallet as well.

Chen Jidong, a senior data expert responsible for the team, says it is a trend to replace traditional identification measures with biometric technology.