A British user told the Sun newspaper this week that a bug on her Galaxy S10 allowed it to be unlocked regardless of the biometric data registered in the device.

After she bought a third-party screen protector, her husband was able to unlock her phone using his fingerprint, even though it was not registered.

The issue can happen when patterns of some protectors that come with silicone phone cases are recognised along with fingerprints, the South Korean tech giant said in a notice on its customer support app.

South Korea's online-only KaKaobank has told customers to stop using the Galaxy 10 fingerprint recognition function to log into its services until the issue is resolved.

Launched in March, Galaxy S10 series phones have an in-display sensor that uses ultrasound to detect the ridges of fingerprints, which Samsung has touted as a "revolutionary" biometric authentication feature.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Stephen Coates and Edwina Gibbs)