SAN FRANCISCO – Future passwords could be more secure than anything you type, and all you’ll have to do is look at your device’s iris scanner to unlock it.

Your eyes would serve as a more secure form of biometric security than your fingerprints, which hackers have been known to fool with high-resolution photos. The goal of all biometrics is to spot what’s unique about you. That includes the pores in your skin, the sound of your voice, the shape of your face — and the patterns in your iris or the blood vessels in the whites of your eyes.

You’ve already seen them in the blink-or-you’ll-miss appearance and disappearance of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, the first mainstream phone to come equipped with an iris scanner. Apple is rumored to be working on an iris scanner for its 2018 iPhone.

Apple’s timing may be onto something. Sy Choudhury, Qualcomm’s senior director of security and machine learning, predicts iris scanners will be as common as mobile fingerprint scanners are by 2018. Mainstream usage on phones may happen next year, he added. It marks the potential next step in assuaging rising concerns over security and the safety of our personal data.