Today at Twitter Flight, the company’s first mobile developer conference, a new sign in service called Digits was introduced.
Digits is being touted as a new way for users to sign into apps and websites without the use of a password. With Digits you only need a phone number, which Twitter promises is safe and easy to use. It’s also free for app developers and users.
We built Digits after doing extensive research around the world about how people use their smartphones. What we found was that first-time Internet users in places like Jakarta, Mumbai and São Paulo were primarily using a phone number to identify themselves to their friends.
Digits aims to provide a solution that didn’t exist until now, as Twitter explains there has never been an easy way for app developers to integrate phone-based sign-up and sign-in.
How To Use Digits
To use Digits, all you need to do is enter your phone number and wait for a confirmation code to be sent to you in order to verify your phone number. Twitter also clarifies that when you sign in with Digits nothing will be automatically posted on behalf of any social network.
Twitter adds a few other notes to ease your mind if you’re a little hesitant to use Digits:
When you use our Friend Finding features, we don’t share your users’ address book data with third-party apps. It’s backed by Twitter, safeguarding user accounts with the Twitter infrastructure.
Digits will begin rolling out to developers today, so you can expect to see it in mobile apps in the very near future. For more information about Digits, you can visit dev.twitter.com/fabric
