Amazon has announced that it will discontinue Amazon One, its palm biometric authentication service for retail payment and facility access, citing limited customer adoption. The service will end on June 3, 2026, for retail customers, though it will continue at existing healthcare locations until further notice.
“In response to limited customer adoption, we’re discontinuing Amazon One,” an Amazon spokesperson stated. Over the past year, the system processed 36.7 million items across 17.7 million shopping sessions, but this volume proved insufficient to justify continued operation.
All customer data associated with Amazon One will be securely deleted after the service ends, according to Amazon’s announcement. Some locations may end service before the June 3 deadline.
The discontinuation comes at a notable moment in the biometric payments market. While Amazon exits palm-based payments, other companies are expanding in this space—J.P. Morgan is preparing for a national rollout of palm-based payments in 2026, and South Korea’s Toss is expanding its face-based biometric payment service to one million stores by end of 2026.
According to Javelin Research data, fingerprint and facial recognition are the most widely used biometric identification methods, with pay-by-palm ranking in a distant fourth place. This market reality appears to have influenced Amazon’s strategic decision.
The discontinuation affects both the retail payment functionality and facility access features of Amazon One. However, AWS continues to offer the Amazon One Enterprise service for workplace authentication, indicating the technology may still have viability in controlled enterprise environments.
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
