You can unlock iPhone Face ID with a mask on, Tencent says

Setting up Face ID with a mask covering half your face supposedly solves the problem

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Tencent’s Xuanwu Lab says that the method works for users wearing glasses as long as the glasses are on while setting up the new Face ID. (Picture: Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab)

Published: 4:03pm, 9 Mar 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

With many people wearing face masks everywhere they go during the coronavirus epidemic, iPhone users without Touch ID have to manually put in their pin number dozens of times every day to unlock their phones. Now there’s a possible solution. Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab published a tutorial on how to use Apple's Face ID with a face mask on.

The tutorial shows that users can set up a new Face ID while holding a folded mask that covers the right or left side of a person’s face. Videos online show this new Face ID allows a person to successfully unlock their iPhone while wearing a mask normally. Xuanwu Lab said in an article that it could work with different masks with similar materials.

Tutorials for this method have been circulating on social media for a while, but this is the first time it’s been validated by a security research lab. Xuanwu Lab said that it used the “mirror match” nature of Face ID. This could be a temporary measure for iPhone users during outbreak, the lab said, but it could lead to a reduction in security for Face ID. Tencent and Apple haven’t responded to questions about the technical details and security implications of this trick.

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