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

So far I'm not impressed with FaceID. It seems slower and clunkier than TouchID. I don't know why Apple requires you to swipe up to activate the phone after it's unlocked. One you're authenticated, the phone should just open up. The extra step (which requires two hands) is a poor implementation. Apple Pay will be more tedious as well.
 
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WBRacing said:
The text there can relatively easily be read:

"Your passcode is required to enable Face ID"

Certainly a fresh reboot / security timeout issue then.


One of my many concerns is how directly I need to be looking at it in order for it to unlock. My 6S lays down on the desk most of the working day. If I needed to pick it up or lean across in order to get it to unlock then that would make for an awful user experience for me.
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This has been the exact concern for me as well. I did notice one clip during the keynote of it laying on a desk/table and unlocking using a woman's face. The thing is that it was directly in front of her. Mine is sitting off to the left of my keyboard. I place my finger on it constantly to unlock and read things. This may force me to pick up the phone or type my code just to read something. While not a deal breaker it is a possible step back. Just have to wait and see in real world scenario.
 
if you don't like it, don't buy it. like the home button better? then buy the other phone with touch id. pretty easy stuff people
 
Jimmy James said:
For all I knew TouchID was impenetrable. Now, it's 20x less secure than the new option.
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I thought everyone knew that TouchId was hacked in about two days, using techniques that have been known since the turn of the century.

TouchId was never about being totally secure. It was about convenience, while being "good enough" for the majority of real life.

LordVic said:
FaceID failed once that we've seen, but before we start slamming it for being a failure, think of how many times TouchID doesn't always work right away. it's really good, but it's not perfect either.
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Very true. TouchId often fails with sweaty fingers. And notice that he immediately wiped both sides of his face while trying to unlock, which people have noted could mean that a sweaty face causes problems for FaceId.

I'm a supporter of FaceId, but there's still some questions.
 
As we all know from using Touch ID, there are multiple things other than not recognizing a fingerprint that will bring up a screen like that. My guess is that Face ID is similar, and that one of these other things (i.e., the phone repeatedly trying to recognize an assistant and finally defaulting to the passcode screen) caused what we saw. On the other hand, we can't rule out a glitch with the technology based on what we know right now.

Of interest is whether we hear something from Apple on this today. You can be certain that this was a very bad moment for Apple and that they have or are frantically analyzing what happened. If the answer is as simple as someone mistakenly rebooting the phone without entering a passcode or multiple failed attempts, then Apple will probably find a way to get the word out into the media. If not, then this may suggest a more involved issue they are still working on.

Either way, it is of some concern. If the issue happened as the result of someone other than Federighi moving the phone around, then it is likely to occur in real-world circumstances even if it isn't a "bug." On the ultimate issue of usability, the jury should remain out until multiple people have tested the phone under real-world conditions.
 
I'm not worried, it could have been a newly rebooted phone or something. Apple will get it right before shipping it.
 
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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That is not correct.

You must enter your passcode or password for additional security validation:
  • after you restart your iPhone, iPad, or Mac;
  • when more than 48 hours have passed from the last time you unlocked your device;
  • to add or delete a fingerprint to use with Touch ID;
  • to change the iPhone or iPad passcode or Mac system password, and for other security settings like FileVault on your Mac;
  • when there have been more than five unrecognized Touch ID authorization attempts in a row; and
  • after you log out of your Mac.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204587
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bluespark said:
Absolutely true: the second phone performed like a champ.
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Much ado about nothing. Whatever bugs there are likely will be gone when the phone ships in November.
 
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thespacekid said:
My understanding is there's a 48 hour inactivity before the touch ID is disabled.
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This, pretty much. Others have been posting all sorts of incorrect numbers. Here's the TouchId passcode facts from Apple's Security doc:

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.
Click to expand...

Edit: ha! az431 posted the same thing just above at the same time.
 
robeddie said:
What I love about that is how Gates had fun with it. Yesterday when Craig ran into his little problem, he had no funny quip ready to go.
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Although I thought he was excellent overall, you could hear the fear in his voice before he quickly recovered with the new phone. If he had a disarming quip along the lines of "well, you obviously have to enable Face ID for it to work," we'd probably be talking about this somewhat less.
 
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BaltimoreMediaBlog said:
Regardless of the reason, using the iPhone X in a car will be completely impractical if not dangerous.

With TouchID, you didn't even have to take your eyes off the road to unlock the phone and get Siri directions.
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How so? FaceID allows you to keep both hands on the wheel.
 
We will see, but it looks like FaceID version 1 may be like TouchID version one, and possibly more clunky.

If it really is comparable in speed and reliability to TouchID version 1, then that’s a good reason to skip this generation.

But we will see.
 
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It's also possible that he wasn't looking at the phone directly when he first tried to unlock it, which put it into locked mode. In the video, he tries to unlock it once and the phone stutters. There is no feedback until he puts it down and picks it up again. This could be a new security measure. The fact that it worked for the rest of the demo with no problem makes me think this was just a fluke and not a problem with Face ID.
 
kdarling said:

- Does that mean that if multiple people pass by the phone, will the passcode prompt will be triggered after say, the fifth invalid face check? That would be incredibly annoying.

- Also, sorry, I got interrupted during the show... but did they mention how you're supposed to unlock and show stuff to a friend (or hand them the phone) without it locking again ?

Thanks for any insights.
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Two excellent questions. Again, like others, Apple has clearly figured this out, but like you I am curious to understand how the phone deals with these scenarios.
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ArtOfWarfare said:
So when this happened, was it called Gategate?

I'll see myself out.
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It would technically be 'Gatesgate'. Either way, thank you for that :)
 
More questions:
  • Will a picture of your face unlock your phone?
  • Can the phone tell the difference between identical twins?
  • Can someone hold the phone up to your face to unlock it while you are sleeping?
  • What if multiple people share a phone?
 
On another note, I'm glad it was Federighi who was dealing with the glitch up there and not someone else, he handled it as well as anyone in that situation could have. Didn't show too much panic, just made a point of switching to the backup device and carried on as if nothing happened.
 
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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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I believe it's 8hrs
 
fde101 said:
More questions:
  • Can someone hold the phone up to your face to unlock it while you are sleeping?
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Whoa, good question! I would assume your eyes have to be open, but if not, that's a HUGE security fail. At least in the case of touch-id, there's a halfway decent chance they'll wake you up if they try to put your finger on the phone.
 
BaltimoreMediaBlog said:
Regardless of the reason, using the iPhone X in a car will be completely impractical if not dangerous.

With TouchID, you didn't even have to take your eyes off the road to unlock the phone and get Siri directions.
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everytime you post, this is the only thing you post about "but using it in ma car is harder!"

good. STOP USING YOUR PHONE WHEN DRIVING!

Adn everytime you cry about using the your phone in the car is going to be harder, I'm going to keep yelling STOP USING YOUR PHONE WHEN DRIVING!

and I encourage everyone else on these forums to do the same.

STOP USING YOUR PHONE WHEN DRIVING!
 
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How many demo phones has his face been programmed to them. It could be simply that the demo phone he picked up didn't have his face in it.
 
fde101 said:
More questions:
  • Will a picture of your face unlock your phone?
  • Can the phone tell the difference between identical twins?
  • Can someone hold the phone up to your face to unlock it while you are sleeping?
  • What if multiple people share a phone?
Click to expand...
A picture will not work

The phone cannot reliably tell the difference between identical twins. Phil said to use a passcode if you have an evil twin. This is a fail IMO.

Sleeping is not going to work. I think they said the eyes need to be open.

If you share a phone then just use the passcode.
 
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