One of the standout features of the new iPhone X, aside from its photo and augmented reality capabilities is FaceID.
Named after the previous fingerprint scan-using TouchID, it¡¯s the new way to unlock an iPhone with no buttons or scanners. Instead, it just looks at your face.
Of course, this isn¡¯t necessarily a new feature for smartphones in general. Samsung has been using face unlock ever since the Note 7, and Android has had the capability for the feature in its OS since Lollipop. So what¡¯s the big deal?
For one thing FaceID looks to be vastly more complex and reliable than other biometric unlocks currently used in smartphones. At the core of the system is Apple¡¯s True Depth Camera. It¡¯s a dual camera system on the iPhone X¡¯s front, combined with infrared blasters. The infrared dots map out your facial structure, allowing the phone to unlock for you even in the dark. It also means the system isn¡¯t spoofed by you simply holding up a photo of the person¡¯s face in front of the camera; there¡¯s just no depth to a 2D image.
For another, Apple¡¯s system also requires your attention to unlock the phone. Not only does that mean your face needs to be more or less aligned, it also means your eyes have to be open and looking at the display. So no, your nosy significant other isn¡¯t going to be able to unlock the phone by sticking it in your face while you¡¯re asleep.
Apple¡¯s FaceID also makes use of a neural network to match your face with a registered scan. Apple says its AI has been trained on thousands of faces to get better at recognising yours. Hopefully, the data set used to train that AI involved more than just a handful of people of non-white people, otherwise there might be problems, but that¡¯s something we¡¯re going to have to wait and see. In the meantime, Apple says TouchID had a 1 in 50,000 chance of someone else being able to unlock your phone. FaceID on the other hand has only a 1 in a million chance.
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Another neat tidbit the company mentioned is that it also went ahead and had a bunch of silicone face masks made, the kind you may have seen Arya wearing in Game of Thrones. That¡¯s because Apple wanted to make sure you couldn¡¯t spoof TouchID that way either.?
And no, hackers can¡¯t break into Apple¡¯s face database and grab your scans, because there is no such thing. The neural network processing when you unlock your phone happens locally; no face scans are saved on cloud. That automatically makes the system a lot safer from outside intrusions, though it¡¯s possible hackers will eventually find some other way to bypass the security feature. Until then, you¡¯re rock solid.
A recent leak showed that Apple is bringing a new feature to iOS 11, that would let iPhone users block both TouchID and FaceID (whichever they have) quickly, when the need arises. Developers compared it to a situation in which you¡¯re unlawfully being detained and questioned by police, where you could be forced under duress to submit your thumb or face to unlock your iPhone. In certain countries, including the US, these both count as physical evidence meaning you have no way to stop it. On the other hand, a pass code remains protected by a user¡¯)s privacy rights. The iOS feature then, has users quickly tapping the power button five times in succession (something you can do subtly) to deactivate FaceID and force a pin code unlock.?
Of course, we¡¯ll be a little more clear about how great (or not) FaceID is when the iPhone X becomes available. But, until then, it certainly does look promising enough to warrant some cautious optimism.