Ant International has integrated iris authentication into Alipay+ GlassPay, its payment solution for augmented reality(AR)/smart glasses, to support merchants and digital platforms in developing more personalised and efficient consumer experiences.
Successfully tested on AlipayHK, the solution enables hands-free payments by pairing iris recognition with Ant International’s existing AI-powered voice and voiceprint tools. It will be deployed through partnerships with Chinese smart-glasses makers Xiaomi and Meizu.
The iris authentication system analyses over 260 biometric feature points and uses artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced liveness detection technology to counter fraud attempts using photos, videos or 3D masks. The system is designed to function in a wide range of lighting conditions and is supported by an end-to-end security suite for e-wallets and apps, including a personal encryption-key scheme to protect user data. Manufacturers and service providers will collaborate to ensure compliance with local security requirements, according to Ant International.
The development comes as the smart-glasses market approaches an inflexion point. Global consumer adoption of the devices could surge almost sevenfold to 18.7 million units by 2029 from 2024 levels, according to International Data Corp.
Smart glasses are increasingly viewed as a potential new interface for interactive commerce, blending real-time product try-ons, assisted shopping and simplified checkout.
In line with that, iris authentication has gained traction as an alternative to facial or fingerprint recognition, partly because it offers a larger number of distinguishing biometric markers and stronger resistance to spoofing
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Alipay+ GlassPay is supported by Ant’s gPass technology, which the company describes as the first trusted-connection framework for smart glasses. The system is designed to help hardware makers and developers build secure AI-driven digital services ecosystems and expand device capabilities for consumers.
Ant plans to introduce the enhanced solution to manufacturers, fintech platforms and software developers across Asia Pacific. Its Alipay+ platform currently connects more than 1.8 billion user accounts across 40 mobile wallets to 100 million merchants in over 100 markets.
The upgrade adds to Ant International’s recent payment innovations, including NFC-enabled QR-and-card interoperability and agentic-AI payment capabilities built on its Alipay+ GenAI Cockpit platform.
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"Ant International is laser-focused on pushing the frontier of payment from all angles: hardware-embedded consumer services, card+QR interoperability, bank-to-wallet connectivity, AI merchant payment orchestration for agentic commerce, and much, much more. Seamless, real-time, around-the-clock secure global payment will be a main engine for global resilience and growth in a time of great change," says the company’s chief executive officer Peng Yang.
Guo Peng, head of XR Business Unit of Xingji Meizu, adds: “In our collaboration with Ant, our focus is not only on achieving faster and more seamless recognition but also on building a comprehensive security framework — from encrypted storage to liveness detection — ensuring the complete protection of users' biometric data. As for smart glasses payment solution, security is not just a feature; it is the very foundation.”
“Xiaomi smart glasses are a key component of Xiaomi's AI terminal strategy. Leveraging Xiaomi's leading advantages in smart personal devices and an ecosystem of diverse use scenarios, we will expand cooperation with partners worldwide to enrich AI-driven lifestyle experience for consumers worldwide," says Zhang Lei, vice president of Mobile Phone Department and General Manager of Wearable Devices at Xiaomi.
