Google wanted to equip Nexus 6 with fingerprint scanner

Google wanted to equip the Nexus 6 with a fingerprint scanner, but decided against it a few months before the announcement. Meanwhile, the support for fingerprint scanners in Android 5.0 was ready.

Ars Technica found several commits, code changes, on the site where Google keeps Android source code pointing to software for the scanner and later its removal. Those commits are placed in the source code section dedicated to a device called Moto Shamu, a codename for the Motorola-developed Nexus 6.

The commits indicate that it was a fingerprint scanner that works with swipes, rather than finger positioning as with iPhones and the Huawei Ascend Mate 7. Support seems almost complete, but it’s not in Android 5.0. Why Google decided not to equip the Nexus 6 with a scanner in the end is unknown. That Google was working on it was also apparent from the first rumor about the Nexus 6.

This is not the first time that Google has removed an api before the release of a Nexus device. Last year it pulled raw support from Android 4.4. That came with Android 5.0, in a new camera API.