Myris by Eyelock, Inc. lets you use your “eyeprint” to log in

You know what eye scanners are, unless you’ve spent the past decades watching exactly zero science fiction or spy shows. They’re that future technology that recognize unique features of your eye the way a fingerprint scanner uses the unique pattern on your digits to identify you. Eyelock, Inc. has brought this technology out of the minds of science fiction writers, out of the vaults of the highest-end government and technology facilities, and into a peripheral for your computer at home.

Myris is a fist-sized disk with a mirror and camera on one side that scans your iris to confirm that you are…well…you. The pattern of color and veins on your iris is as 100% unique to you as your voice, thumbprint and DNA, and the technology inside Myris is accurate enough to spot it. It keeps the record of your iris n its internal storage, so the data is more secure than it would be on the cloud or in your hard drive. According to Eyelock, it can spot the difference between your eye and a photo or video of your eye.

The eye scanner interacts with a password management system. At first glance, this might not seem like an improvement of security since your online accounts and secure files are still defended only by a password. However, the iris scan gives you the ability to use passwords much longer and more complex than you could remember — and longer, more complex passwords are more difficult to hack.

One Myris scanner retails for $280 and initial reviews say it works, but more slowly than looking up your password and entering it manually. Eyelock says they’re working on iterative fixes to speed the process to make newer iterations of the device as fast or faster than manual passwords. Either way, it’s a way to feel a little more like James Bond when you log in each morning.