US startup Sensory has unveiled a biometric security solution that enables individual apps on a consumer’s smartphone to be secured via voice verification, facial verification or, for higher security applications like mobile payments and banking, a combination of the two.

“The combination of face recognition and speaker verification to authenticate a specific individual allows users to rest assured that their device is secure, without the hassle of entering a password or PIN every time they want to access it,” Sensory says.

The solution is also cheaper than fingerprint verification, the company claims, as there is no need for phone makers to include additional hardware in their devices.

“The added cost for the fingerprint feature is $5 to $10 per phone, making it expensive to implement,” Sensory says. “Sensory’s approach uses the existing microphone and camera so there is no added hardware cost, making it applicable for lower-cost devices, while improving on accuracy across a wide range of environmental conditions.”

A video produced by Sensory shows how the TrulySecure technology can be used to provide a variety of security access levels for different apps on a user’s mobile phone:

“Consumers generally find it cumbersome to use PINs or passwords to lock their phones, and as a result these devices often go unlocked,” says Todd Mozer, CEO of Sensory. “Sensory’s biometric authentication provides a high level of security, while still being convenient and fast enough that people will use it.”