Face ID on iPhone X: is it a privacy problem or are you OK with facial recognition?
Shoppers outside an LA Apple store last week were overwhelming squeamish about facial recognition, but like fingerprint recognition, it could just be as Steve Jobs said: people don’t know what they want until you show it to them
Your passcode can be hacked, but your face is yours and yours alone. That is the thinking behind Apple’s latest security measure, which is more hi-tech and a bit more intimate than most other things on the market.
With Face ID, which Apple unveiled on Tuesday, owners of the company’s new top-of-the-line iPhone X will be able to unlock their phone, pay for products and use mobile apps just by glancing at their device.
Why the iPhone X feels like an evolution of the iPhone, but not of the smartphone
Biometric technology – which includes identification systems using face, fingerprint, iris and retina recognition – has been a hotbed of research this decade. With Apple’s backing, the field just got its most high-profile boost yet and could soon become the industry standard, even if many consumers aren’t quite comfortable with the concept.
Technologists tout a futuristic experience that is more secure than entering a passcode. They predict the technology could one day be used to unlock cars, withdraw money from ATMs or enter connected homes.
“You can share your password. You can share your car keys. But you can’t share your biometrics,” says George Avetisov, chief executive of biometric security firm Hypr.