Apple's Craig Federighi: Uncertainty About Face ID Will 'Melt Away' Once People Get iPhone X

[doelcm82]

I think it's because some people, and I include myself in this, have to deal in the real world, with real people as part of a real job.
I need to totally think thru potential issues and try my best to come up with fix's that will stop errors occurring.
Same with programming a game.
What happens when someone enters an area in the game or does something they are not supposed to do.

You can't have the game crash, you need to find and fix such things.

So when something is presented to people who HAVE to think like this, the instant reaction is to think of the potential weak links, and wish to see them tested.

Just "doing as you are supposed to" is pointless, you need to test out all the things you are not supposed to, and see if the system? still works, or does not fail in some way.

Even with a road bridge.
You don't make it, so it's fine with a expected load in nice weather.
You need to design it, so it takes a crazy loading, and the worst weather x 10 you can ever think of.
THEN it's safe.

So let's say you're Apple and you've just built a bridge designed to take a crazy loading in the worst weather you can think of x 10.

And you have people saying: The ferry has worked fine for years we don't need this bridge. This "bridge to nowhere" should never have been built at all. No one is going to use the bridge. This bridge is a total fail. I had a friend who knew someone who crossed a bridge and was never heard from again. How long before terrorists find a way to blow up this bridge? Will this bridge support people with different skin color? What about ice? Don't bridges freeze first? Think of all the poor Chinese slaves who Apple exploited to build this bridge. Will the bridge work during a zombie apocalypse? Apple should have built the bridge to go half way across, and use the ferry to go the rest of the way. Everybody knows you don't go full bridge.

 

[djlythium]

Could be cool if you have you finger resting on the screen when face id does its thing then it goes right to home screen. If you tap let go and face id does it's thing it takes you to notifications etc

Yea, good ideas! So, it could be that, if I grab the phone from my pocket, holding a finger on the screen (thumb, for instance), then it’ll unlock to the homescreen by the time I raise it because it’s seen, and analyzed, my face so quickly. Then, I could swipe across home screen pages, or do whatever.

I can see why Apple has the ‘swipe up’ feature, as there are times when I just want to look at the lock screen to see if I missed anything. In those instances, if I grab the edges of the phone, and pull it out of my pocket, it’ll ‘standby unlock’ (stay locked, but be ready to unlock to the homescreen the millisecond I start to swipe up), and I can just view/interact with anything on the lock screen.

Does this make sense? It’s fun trying to predict user interactions, and design the software accordingly.

 

[ani4ani]

They ARE the giants. Where have you been for the last decade? As for letting other (often greedy/attention seeking) companies kick the tyres of a certain technology by rushing a half-hearted idea to market, and seeing if it sticks, well that's WISDOM. Why would you waste billions of dollars on something that could flop - something you care deeply about and that you want to use fo make your customers lives easier, when arrogant, less intelligent companies are willing to do large amounts of the legwork in R&D and adoption/feasibility studies for the fundamentals, just for the vanity and fleeting reward of being "first"?

Apple are extremely canny. It's amazing how you've appeared to completely miss the irony of your "standing on the shoulders of giants" statement.

Oh dear, you really drink the juice don't you...where have I been for the last 10 years? I think the more pertinent question where were Apple for the previous 25 years when the real giants of mobile technology were developing the systems and protocols, the radios, the infrastructure for mobile communications. The giants of manufacturing who make it possible to produce the screens, the chips, the batteries - Apple would be nothing without these real pioneers. Far easier to sit in the cheap seats refining others ideas and products and taking the plaudits for them.

I am not denying that Apple are great at what they do, but let's put it in perspective - I reiterate my view they stand on the shoulders of giants.

 

[nviz22]

I am certain FaceID will be better in 2018 iPhones. Currently, it's clunky.

 

[ke-iron]

Question: will FaceID be used for things like app purchases?
Because one of the useful things with TouchID is that you have control over it, for example, if you click to buy an app, you have a moment of control on deciding whether to put your finger on and activate TouchID, to confirm the purchase.
With FaceID, will it just authenticate immediately, without an intermediate confirmatory gesture or input? Could perhaps lead to accidental purchases?

I want to know how this works also, because there are times I switch my method of payment just before authenticating with Touch ID.

 

[doelcm82]

Oh dear, you really drink the juice don't you...where have I been for the last 10 years? I think the more pertinent question where were Apple for the previous 25 years when the real giants of mobile technology were developing the systems and protocols, the radios, the infrastructure for mobile communications. The giants of manufacturing who make it possible to produce the screens, the chips, the batteries - Apple would be nothing without these real pioneers. Far easier to sit in the cheap seats refining others ideas and products and taking the plaudits for them.

I am not denying that Apple are great at what they do, but let's put it in perspective - I reiterate my view they stand on the shoulders of giants.

Apple wouldn't be Apple without Hedy Lamarr. Tesla wouldn't be Tesla without, um, Tesla. The United States couldn't exist without Plato.

But Apple IS Apple, and has broad shoulders of its own, which others do, and will, stand upon. Whoever it was that invented the wheel was raised by someone who used a stick or a rock to crush nuts and berries for the morning müsli.
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I am certain FaceID will be better in 2018 iPhones. Currently, it's clunky.

Every time I've used it, it has worked perfectly. You must have a clunky iPhone X.

 

[icolove]

Don't expect Apple haters to get the actual device to actually experience the things they complain about. They have a narrative, they won't change their minds about the hate they have.

Hello kettle, meet teapot......

 

[AJ5790]

So was Gruber told he could only talk about Face ID? His comments about the notch on his website are quite harsh so why didn’t he ask Craig the reasoning behind that? Afraid he’d never get another interview if he says ‘I’m not a fan of the notch, what we’re you thinking’?

Federighi doesn’t do hardware.

 

[MrChurchyard]

nope not sarcasm

year 2012

https://www.androidcentral.com/how-set-face-unlock-your-htc-one-x-or-evo-4g-lte

sure it was less secure back then, but that was 5 years ago

they took old tech and maybe made it better who knows. touch id wasn't broken

The tech isn’t comparable in any way, shape or form. Face ID uses an IR projector and IR camera to do a depth mapping of the face, not just facial recognition based on a 2D photo capture. Just because the concept of unlocking with your face has been around does not make this very comparable, the implementations are wildly different.
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And when they keep bringing up Craig's failure on stage the is only solidifying that it really was a failure of the technology.

The technology worked exactly as designed and engineered, which is why it showed the passcode screen saying to enter passcode to activate Face ID. It wasn’t a failure of tech, it was a failure of process during the event preparation (they shouldn’t have had other people interacting with the phones right before it leading to failed unlocking attempts).

 

[dugbug]

nope not sarcasm

year 2012

https://www.androidcentral.com/how-set-face-unlock-your-htc-one-x-or-evo-4g-lte

sure it was less secure back then, but that was 5 years ago

they took old tech and maybe made it better who knows. touch id wasn't broken

I'm not sure you understand what was announced. Apple did not claim to invent face identification or unlocking via your face. They invented a hardware based highly reliable and secure consumer grade face based authentification mechanism. This has never been done.

 

[chabig]

Unlock my phone, use Siri to send text message or call someone without me ever picking it up from my nightstand is one example.

You can still do that with iPhone X.

 

[MrChurchyard]

I want to know how this works also, because there are times I switch my method of payment just before authenticating with Touch ID.

They will probably just authenticate after confirmation with a button or separate authentication (happening immediately) from a second confirmation step. Simple.

 

[GoodWheaties]

...why not make it press and hold the buttons at the same time for disable and set the screenshot to side button + volume up button?...

That is the way it is from what I understand. Quick press for screenshot, and hold for a few seconds to disable FaceID/TouchID(only on 8).

 

[Rob_2811]

Federighi doesn’t do hardware.

He is a senior Apple executive to you seriously believe he doesn't know what is going on?

 

[jerry333]

All this angst and we haven't seen a real production iPhone X in the hands of real users with the shipping software.

 

[ColdShadow]

This thread (among many others) demonstrates that there is indeed question.

The exact opposite..it seems you didn't read comments at all so here are some concerns:

1-handling the phone..you need to press 2 keys and disable it or it will pick wrong faces and locks to passcode request.

2-many sun glasses won't work and people need to remove them to use their phone

3-need to stare at the nesn in suitable angle for it to work

these are just 3 examples on inconveniency that comes with face id,neither of them a problem with touch id.

I like the idea of face id but there is no way it's as convenient as touch ID.
even if it wirks 100% flawlessly all the time,these 3 examples that I brought are concrete evidence of its issues.
All confirmed.

 

[john123]

“Combinations of biometrics”
My prediction: they’re still working on under-glass TouchID. Users will have the choice of being authenticated with TouchID, FaceID, or both. With the option of both, they can tout having biometric security that only 1 in 50 billion could fool. (1 in 50,000 for TouchID times 1 in 1,000,000 for FaceID)

Facepalm. The "option of both" leads to a higher chance of being fooled, not lower.

 

[AdonisSMU]

It's like this with every new technology... Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, and even iPhone X. Instead of keeping an open mind, some people's first instinct is to assume the worst and try to discredit it. They never learn.

The dumbest thing I've read has to be, what if a robber forces you to unlock it by looking at it. What???? How is that any different than a robber putting a gun to your head and asking for your passcode or forcing you to unlock it with Touch ID? SMH

Id tell them they are going to have to shoot.

 

[newdeal]

Facepalm. The "option of both" leads to a higher chance of being fooled, not lower.

No that would be option of either...the option of both would be a lower chance of being fooled (some people who can fool touchID can't fool faceID and vice versa decreasing the amount of chance of fooling it)

 

[Karma*Police]

I think the point is, a thief wouldn't have to force you to do anything with FaceID, he would just hold the phone up in front of you....as would a police officer etc. Apparently all you have to remember to do is close your eyes and everything will be fine. Yea right. Apple can't make all the claims they make about it being easy, fast and accurate and then at the same time argue that the reason for the keynote failure was too many folks had looked at the phone? The FaceID system is scanning constantly so you might not even be ware you looked at your phone.

My take is that Apple will ultimately get it right, it must be pretty hard to implement something that I genuinely believe was not intended for the phone or perhaps even considered originally. Even now listening to the interview, they haven't solved simple issues like a button having to perform the same function etc. Personally I think the first incarnations are going to be a bit ropey as they struggle to get the balance between convenience and security. TouchID took time to refine too.

Listening to the interview, I came away with a different conclusion: unlocking with face ID and swiping up is one fluid motion. As Craig said, people are imaging barriers that don't exist because they haven't used it. I agree with you that it will only get better though.

As for the robbery "logic" to try and discredit face ID, it's simply ridiculous... similar to how people were saying someone might cut your finger off to access iPhones with Touch ID. If someone really wanted access to your iPhone, it's easier to just pull out a gun or a knife and ask for the passcode. It's just the usual, irrational fears and anxieties being expressed by people who don't deal well with change. Of course, the media doesn't help... they feed on those fears like piranha in a frenzy, because nothing sells news like fear.

 

[newdeal]

This system makes much more sense for the mac...yet they just put touchID into the MacBook pro

 

[AdonisSMU]

Give me a break. Another high level C-level Apple exec who has never hands on used the product. I don't care if he is head of all software development. The man knows nothing

You didn't listen to the interview or read the transcript.

 

[iModFrenzy]

As I said, Apple personnel is reading all these posts about Face ID and is trying to quench all this negativity and uncertainty.
And when they keep bringing up Craig's failure on stage the is only solidifying that it really was a failure of the technology.

Craig’s “failure” on stage was the people who handled it before and disabled FaceID, it did what it was supposed to do. If it didn’t the iPhone would’ve said “FaceID couldn’t not recognize you” probably , not “FaceID requires a passcode” I get the same thing if someone fails repeatedly on my phone with Touch ID

 

[iTom501]

People are too sensitive.

 

[rtrutter]

I am very sorry but Apple is a bunch of elderly geeks wanting to relive their childhood by incorporating silly features in a phone. We can make a cartoon character of our faces... That's useful. Face Id , that did not work very well during the keynote. These new versions of iPhone are very expensive. Tim said that Apple wasn't building stuff for the rich which is a flat out lie. I am greatly disappointed in what Apple has created recently. I believe Apple is pricing themselves out of business because of their greed. A thousand dollars for a mobile phone. Apple is really insane.