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Doubts and Speculation Surround Apple's Onstage Face ID 'Fail' During iPhone X Keynote [Updated]

Sunny1990 said:
Touch id was better and reliable. Hope it makes in next iPhone under the display.
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You really think after taking it out and saying face detection is better Apple is going to add it back? Sorry unless Face ID is a complete failure, Touch ID is gone for good.
 
MacRumors said:
Some observers have leapt on the moment as an indication that Face ID is unreliable or a yet-to-be-perfected technology that's unfit to replace Touch ID fingerprint authentication.
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I think this is believable.

If you would believe the rumors, Apple wanted both Face ID and Touch ID on the iPhone X, but Apple could not successfully put the Touch ID under the glass.

Apple only went with Face ID because they had to. If Face ID was as good as they claim it is, why have the inferior Touch ID on the phone also?

Of course, this is all based on the rumor being true.
 
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I think the whole Face ID is a significant risk for Apple to take. They should have rolled it out to Macbooks first, imo.

Touch ID works great. It is likely one of the most used feature of the iPhone. It is also important for Apple Pay adoption. Taking that away for a newer and unproven technology is a huge risk that Apple didn't have to take.
 
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Touch ID has never really been a fool-proof way to unlock an iOS device either. If your skin tends to dry out more easily, then you end up entering the passcode fairly often. That happened to me so much with the 5S and 12.9" iPad Pro that I stopped using Touch ID.
 
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How can macrumors promote these theories?
If it has rebooted it would immediately ask doe the passcode and not after 2 trials!
The theory of a second face setup is equally laughable. It assumes that Apple was unprepared for this big demo. No way.

It just failed. Admit it. This article is only adding fuel to the die hard fans.
 
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The one who forgot to add the Passcode is probably the same one who leaked everything and this was his ultimate revenge on Apple before resigning (or killing himself) :p
 
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Even if this were a failed attempt, one thing we learned is that the phone will get better at recognizing you. Perhaps stage makeup and bright lights were taxing on the phone...and that's if the problem wasn't something out of our purview.
 
The first phone clearly never even made an attempt to authenticate using Face ID. After giving it a couple glances, he then tries to go ahead and swipe up, which prompts the passcode screen/message. Presentation fail, but not a technology fail.
 
b3ats said:
"It is also said to boast a mismatch error rate of 1 in 1,000,000, compared to 1 in 50,000 for Touch ID"

Unless you're an identical twin, in which case they told you not to bother using it at all.
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That "1 in 50000" number seems pretty bad for how secure they were telling us TouchID was. That means in the US alone there would be over 6000 people who could unlock my phone. That just seems preposterous as I haven't heard of a single story where someone was able to unlock someone else's iPhone. Are they trying to pump up FaceID?
 
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The backup iphone seemed to open just fine with facial ID. So i'm thinking it was just that the first one wasnt set up right causing it to ask for the passcode. Bet it turns out to be no big deal. But the iphone X won't be released until Nov 3rd, so i'm sure there'll be plenty of speculation until then.
 
[Edit] Cinetagonist above posted about this as well

Regarding the hours, according to the security guide, there's a recent condition (as of iOS 9 I think?):

Touch ID and passcodes

To use Touch ID, users must set up their device so that a passcode is required to unlock it. When Touch ID scans and recognizes an enrolled fingerprint, the device unlocks without asking for the device passcode. The passcode can always be used instead of Touch ID, and it’s still required under the following circumstances:

  • The device has just been turned on or restarted.

  • The device hasn’t been unlocked for more than 48 hours.

  • The passcode hasn’t been used to unlock the device in the last 156 hours (six and a half days) and Touch ID has not unlocked the device in the last 4 hours.

  • The device has received a remote lock command.

  • After five unsuccessful attempts to match a fingerprint.

  • When setting up or enrolling new fingers with Touch ID.
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TomCat512 said:
How can macrumors promote these theories?
If it has rebooted it would immediately ask doe the passcode and not after 2 trials!
The theory of a second face setup is equally laughable. It assumes that Apple was unprepared for this big demo. No way.

It just failed. Admit it. This article is only adding fuel to the die hard fans.
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Yes. It failed. Avoid the iPhone X at all costs until I get my pre-orders in.
 
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Return Zero said:
The first phone clearly never even made an attempt to authenticate using Face ID. After giving it a couple glances, he then tries to go ahead and swipe up, which prompts the passcode screen/message. Presentation fail, but not a technology fail.
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I don't like the fact that you must swipe up after you authenticate with Face ID. Just give me my home screen...
 
GoodWheaties said:
That "1 in 50000" number seems pretty bad for how secure they were telling us TouchID was. That means in the US alone there would be over 6000 people who could unlock my phone. That just seems preposterous as I haven't heard of a single story where someone was able to unlock someone else's iPhone. Are they trying to pump up FaceID?
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They probably just made those numbers up so they could justidy why suddenly touchID "isnt safe" anymore. Like all those "letters to Tim Cook" how some people's lives were saved by Apple and all that bullcrap.
 
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AcesHigh87 said:
Do you have proof of this claim? I go to bed and don't touch my phone for 6+ hours and Touch ID still works perfectly fine when I get up. The only time I need to enter my passcode is when my phone is restarted or my hands are particularly sweaty / dirty.
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Came in to say the same thing. Never had to reactivate Touch ID in the morning.
 
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Cinetagonist said:
Maybe author isn't an iOS user because that message appears if you don't use your iphone for 5 hours — Touch ID (and Face ID) tokens are zeroed after five hours in non-use state and you have to enter passcode to reenable the security feature. I bet that was the case on stage.
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I didn't know about that. But I have a hard time believing that they didn't do a 'final check' on that prior to the presentation. I guess it could've been 5 hours earlier, but that would put it around 6am.
 
For all we know. The first device could've been linked to someone else's face or something else we'll never know the answer to.

I'm not sold on face id but I don't have info to dismiss it yet either.
 
I can't believe there are theories! It clearly says on the screen "Your passcode is required to enable Face ID" as we also see with current iPhone, except it's Touch ID rather than Face ID. Either it was just turned on, or someone else tried to unlock it many times, as would happen if someone else whose fingerprint isn't registered tried to use Touch ID.
 
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