So was the face recognition another solution for a non-existing problem? Was there a problem with the finger print scan or something people didn’t like? Personally I’d think face recognition would be more of a hassle than fingerprint. What if you’re in a dark place? Bedroom, concert, car at night, outside at night? They kind of added a feature because they could, not because it solved anything.
They wanted to build a phone that was “all screen.” So, Apple needed a way of unlocking the phone without a physical sensor.
Also, eliminating the home button makes the phone that much more weather-resistant.
The phone’s facial recognition has no problem seeing you in the dark. When you look at the device, it emits light outside the unaided visible spectrum and performs 3D mapping of your face. It also is able to determine whether or not you’re looking directly at the screen, so it won’t just randomly unlock upon seeing your face. I’m not particularly a fan of the phone, but the facial recognition is vastly ahead of what’s out there in other phones and consumer cameras.
Fingerprints? Facial recognition?
Personally, I’m opposed to any technology that can’t be used by Batman.
There is this.
I hadn’t heard that, and yes, there is a legitimate concern there. The article does point out that explicit permission must be given by the user to the third party app though so it’s an opt in rather than a default config.
According to Apple, there is a 1 in 50,000 chance that another fingerprint will unlock the phone. The facial recognition is much more secure-how secure is not known for sure but Apple said it was at least 1 in 100,000.
Many security firms are willing to demonstrate how easy it is to fool the fingerprint reader given a latent print. It takes a bit of skill, but unlocking a locked phone via fingerprint is easy.
Another problem with the fingerprint is that the Government can force you to provide a print. That has been established for decades. If you rely on the fingerprint scanner to lock your phone the Government loves that. It guarantees that they have a legal way to access your phone.
The camera uses infrared to read the face. Partly to foil holding up a picture of the person and also so as to not depend on ambient light.
As has been said upthread. All the data for the recognition algorithm-it isn’t a picture but a set of readings-is stored on the phone and inaccessible to everyone including Apple. Given the phone and all the passwords, from what I understand, Apple itself can’t access the secure area on the phone. Short of dissassembling the phone and etching through the chips.
As I understand it, the information Apple is willing to share isn’t enough to recognize the individual. It is the equivalent to notifying the 3rd party software that the person is smiling or tilting the head. There is a “rough map” of the face, not a detailed one. The ID portion of the scan isn’t being provided-as I read the various articles on this subject.
Reuters says: “The data being released (with user permission, of course) is not used to unlock the phone or to prove the iPhone X user’s identity. Those features don’t use a map of a user’s face, but are based on complex mathematical formulas that are used to form a representation of what someone looks like. <snip>”
Apple says the false positive rate is 1 in 1,000,000.
edit
If you have an identical twin, ymmv.
They do. The default has been to set up a code or fingerprint on first use for some time.
Now, if you don’t want to, you can click the tiny text at the bottom of the screen to skip that step, and then not set up any security (which I believe requires another “are you sure you want a phone with no security” scare-prompt OK), but it’s certainly not the default.
I’m just amused at the idea of a DNA sample to unlock your phone. What do you do? Lick it? can we call it unlicking your phone? A lick-lock?
So you want to explain how that would work, given how easy it is to obtain DNA sources from individuals?
Fingerprint unlocking is a convenience solution -probably less secure* than pin or pattern, but quicker and easier
- I mean, if I lost my phone right now, I know it’s got my fingerprints all over it, and I know it’s possible to lift one and replicate it in a way that would be capable of unlocking the phone
Face recognition (at least the Apple version) is a slight improvement in security, but still quick and convenient
Cite?
Genius.
According to the video, someone demonstrated the ability to lift a fingerprint from a publicly available photograph of the German Defense Minister's hand and clone the fingerprint from the photograph.
In the video the person demonstrating the technique used Play-Do to unlock the phone.