Facial Recognition: Apple All Set to Use Selfies to Unlock Phones?

iPhones passcodes and fingerprint scans will soon be obsolete .  US Patent No. 8,994,499 is titled “locking and unlocking a mobile device using facial recognition,” and would let users unlock their devices by taking a photo of their face to prove who they are. It’s a biometric alternative to Touch ID, Apple’s fingerprint scanner.

Rumors that Apple describes using the mobile phone camera to capture the image of user’s face for authentication is out in the air now. The mobile phone’s camera will capture the image of the user and analyse it and unlock the device. The device will unlock only if the photo of the owner’s face matches. This is just similar to facial recognition. Just that it gets the fancy tag of “selfie” unlock mechanism.  A new biometric unlocking system for future iPhone models to come. Apple has just now received the patent for using this type of facial recognition for unlocking a mobile device.

In the company’s patent, Apple writes that it is trying to eliminate the time consuming steps for unlocking devices. Just like the modern day scenario  that needs you to drag the slide bar and enter a password. This password remembering task that some find so inconvenient can now be replaced.  The patent details a system that works in conjunction with the front facing camera. The front facing camera is to be set to capture the user’s image for analysis.

Facial Recognition Coming to the iPhone

It all began with facial recognition for laptops. Now it looks like that the trend is set to smartphones too.  In facial recognition technique , the device is set to unlock when the phone is moved to “a use position” and the camera image matches the initial one taken and loaded on the owner’s device.  There is no password required. Apple claims that this technique could be used to identify other authorized users for the device. Other users like friends or family can make use of this technique to authorize access to the device. With facial recognition gaining day by day broader application, this technique will be an eye catcher.

Facial Recognition: Not a New Technique

Smartphones that run on android have an automatic unlocking feature called Smart Lock. The smart lock allows the devices to open only when it recognizes the user’s face.  This is what Google has warned as less secure  than the password. It is insecure because someone who looks like you could unlock your phone and access your information illegally.

Facebook  has been using the facial recognition for sometime now to identify people in photos.  The photos that are being uploaded on social networks uses facial recognition to suggest tags. The suggestion takes place after it compares it with your profile picture. Alibaba founder Jack Ma demonstrated a payment system that  uses facial recognition on a smartphone. This system was termed “Smile to Pay“.

Facial Recognition -The Technology is not without flaws

According to CNN
HP introduces a computer with a built in web cam. Unfortunately the webcam had issues in the face tracking software in recognizing black people.
Here is the YouTube Video showcasing the glitches of Facial Recognition.
 The company later acknowledged that it had issues with contrast recognition in certain lighting situations.

Facial Recognition: Apple’s Take

From Apple’s angle of the patent is that it continues to secure your device even  after it has been unlocked. A device with the technology  enabled  will continue to take photos of the user periodically. If the user no longer appears in the images, the iPhone will automatically lock. This will block unauthorised intruders from accessing the device’s contents.

Facial Recognition on iPhones: When to expect it?

There’s no guarantee that Apple will implement this technology. But with many companies coming forward to kill traditional passwords  selfie secured iPhones seems to be sounding plausible.

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