Frictionless Privacy: What Your Phone Doesn’t Do

John Dvorak
Token
Published in
3 min readMay 22, 2020

Nothing tries to do as many things as a phone. So when people talk about Token, they sometimes ask: Doesn’t my phone do that?

When it comes to protecting your privacy, the answer is No. Mobile phones were never designed for privacy, and the amount of data we’re freely giving away about our habits, preferences, and whereabouts is staggering. Token’s mission is to give you back control, and do it in a way that’s convenient and frictionless.

Ever paid for something with your phone? Right around 30% of mobile phone users in the US used their device to make a payment in 2019. If you’re one of those people, would you consider the experience frictionless? First you need to have your phone with you and take it out, then authenticate via a PIN, passcode, or some kind of biometric recognition so it knows it’s you trying to use it. From there, if the payment isn’t set up to trigger by proximity, you may need to launch an app to complete your transaction. That’s three steps at least, and you’re down a hand while holding it.

Hover your hand to pay instantly

What about Token? It’s always on-hand so you never need to retrieve it, and you’ll never leave it behind. You authenticate at the moment you put it on, and the ring knows that you’re wearing it, so every interaction you make has multi-factor protection. How? Token bonds with just you. Your fingerprint gets stored in its bank-grade, EAL5+ certified secure element inside the ring, and removing Token from your finger locks the ring. If you lose it, no one else can access your encrypted credentials, period. No one can even borrow it.

In fact, not even Token, the company, has access to your information. We’re built on the belief that privacy is a fundamental right, and our reason for being is to protect that right. That means we don’t track your payments, your usage or your location data. Unlike a phone, with apps sending regular updates back to their servers potentially without your knowledge, Token doesn’t connect to WiFi and never transmits a credential unless you want to.

Want to be anonymous? Token generates no unique identifier when used. Your interactions can’t be stored on the ring nor linked to it.

Going somewhere? Token doesn’t support GPS, so you can forget about being tracked.

Wondering about security? While any app downloaded to a phone can introduce a vector for malware, Token is air-gapped. That means it only runs trusted Token code, and only communicates with the Token app. No third party apps allowed. Bonus!

So what does Token do? It stores your digital credentials, allowing you to prove your identity to external systems in a way that keeps you secure and incognito to everyone else. Token doesn’t track steps, it won’t tell you the fastest way to work, and it can’t help you find Pokemon. After all, that’s what your phone is for. What Token gives you is a break from your phone, frictionless convenience, and rock-solid privacy you can trust.

Sign up for the Token newsletter to get exclusive product updates and the biggest news you missed in Privacy, Security, and NFC.

Want to continue a conversation about privacy at Token? Connect with John on LinkedIn.

--

--