Apple Face ID works with most sunglasses and can be instantly disabled


iPhone X

Last week, Apple announced iPhone X with Face ID which is a facial recognition technology used to unlock the phone. There have been a lot of questions about the usability of Face ID and Apple’s SVP of software engineering Craig Federighi has answered these several questions in reply to a mail by developer Keith Krimbel. 

Apple Face ID

[HTML1]

The Face ID feature is said to work with hats, scarves, beards, glasses, makeup, and other items that might obscure the face however, there was no mention about sunglasses. Federighi said that iPhone X’s Face ID feature will work with most sunglasses those which let through enough light for Face ID to recognise the users’ eyes. “Most sunglasses let through enough IR light that Face ID can see your eyes even when the glasses appear to be opaque. It’s really amazing!” Federighi said in an email.

Up next, another question raised by Krimbel was how you would prevent a thief from unlocking your phone by making you look at it. Federighi said Apple has two solutions in place: “If you don’t stare at the phone, it won’t unlock,” he said. “Also, if you grip the buttons on both sides of the phone when [you] hand it over, it will temporarily disable Face ID.”

The Face ID is powered by neural engine with dual-core and can carry out 600bn operations per second. It ues TrueDepth camera system made up of a dot projector, infrared camera and flood illuminator. The feature has replaced the TouchID button on iPhone and is exclusive to iPhone X.


Author: Sneha Bokil

Sneha Bokil is a tech enthusiast and is currently using OnePlus 3T but she still treasures her Nokia N70 (M). You can follow her on Twitter @snehabokil and on Google+