When Apple launched the iPhone X last year, it made the bold move of ditching the Touch ID sensor that had been part of its phones since the iPhone 5S. In its place was Face ID, a complex 3D facing-scanning technology that only required you to glance at your handset to unlock it. Apple was so confident in this premise that it not only stated it was more secure than a fingerprint (something that has been contested), it totally removed any kind of secondary biometric unlock system. It's was Face ID, or the old-fashioned PIN code.
Many assumed that the lack of Touch ID was down to the fact that at the time of the iPhone X's release, no company had perfected in-screen fingerprint scanners. However, by the time Apple produced the XS, XS Max and XR this year, such tech was already on the market, yet the company remained committed to Face ID as its only means of unlocking its phones (it even rolled it out to the iPad).
On the outside, such behaviour would suggest that Apple has supreme confidence in Face ID, but behind the scenes, it seems to be quite different. A patent spotted by Patently Apple shows that the company is not only contemplating a phone which uses both Face ID and Touch ID, it even has doubts about its own Face ID tech.
The patent – which was filed in Europe – shows Touch ID being used as a backup if Face ID fails to unlock the phone. Here's part of the patent:
"Techniques for implementing biometric authentication using electronic devices are generally cumbersome. For example, some existing techniques, such as those directed to facial recognition, require a user to almost perfectly align a biometric feature in a same manner during both enrollment and each iteration of authentication. Deviation from the alignment of the biometric feature often results in a false negative result."
Read that last bit again; this is Apple admitting that Face ID isn't as perfect as we've been led to believe. Apple's marketing for the iPhone X, XS, XS Max and XR has focused on how accurate Face ID is, but here we have Apple stating that the system isn't infallible.
That's not a bad thing, either; lots of other phones already use a combination of fingerprint scanning and face unlocks to provide a solution which covers all of the bases. Samsung, for example, allows Galaxy S9 users to opt for Iris scanning and face unlock before using the fingerprint scanner as a backup.
Of course, a patent isn't solid evidence that anything is going to happen; they're taken out all the time simply to cover bases, and Apple could well use Face ID for the foreseeable future. Still, it's interesting to see the company admit that Face ID quite as great as it has been making out.
by dmcferran via Featured Articles
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