Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Face ID and security.

Tom G.

Tom G.

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
2,342
1,389
Champaign/Urbana Illinois
I just saw a comment on thread and its gotten me to thinking, a dangerous thing.

The comment was that Face ID could make thieves think twice about stealing an iPhone with this feature.

My thoughts are this. What if Apple made it possible for Face ID to store the image of anyone, but the owner, who tried to open a stolen or lost iPhone. This image could be stored in “Find My iPhone.” Then when you, or the police use the app there would be a nice image of the unauthorized person who is trying to use the iPhone along, of course, with their location.
 
Ooh, sure. And there's no reason that would require Face ID – an iPhone marked by its owner as lost could be prompted to take a front-facing picture based on any sign of interaction.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TinyChip and PeLaNo
An educated thief will put the phone in airplane mode and then proceed to put a piece of tape on the front (and back just to be sure) camera.

Still a cool idea though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ABC5S
So if you lost your phone whoever tries to help get it back to you could be charged?
 
ChromeCloud said:
An educated thief will put the phone in airplane mode and then proceed to put a piece of tape on the front (and back just to be sure) camera.

Still a cool idea though.
Click to expand...
How are they going to put it in airplane mode without a passcode or FaceId"?
 
ChromeCloud said:
Swipe up (or swipe down on iPhone X) from the lock screen gives you access to control center. From there you can easily toggle airplane mode on or off without unlocking the device.
Click to expand...
Are you saying Control Center cannot be disabled from lock screen on the iPhone X?
 
nrvna76 said:
So if you lost your phone whoever tries to help get it back to you could be charged?
Click to expand...

Not at all. Remember that you are the one who initially has control over “Find my iPhone.” If when you fire it up the photo/image you see is a close friend etc that you were visiting when your iPhone treated you like Tim Cook, then you simply contact them and make arrangements to retrieve it. However, if it is some stranger then other plans would have to be made—up to and including notifying the authorities. The ball would be in your court, and at least you could see who you would be dealing with. Also simply the knowledge that their image could be given to the police could stop someone from attempting to steal one in the first place.

Think of this scenario on a future TV crime show.

Detective: “So you say that you were never in the area where Mr. Smith was attacked and robbed?”
Suspect: “That’s right, I was at my knitting class over 6 miles away.”
Detective: “Then how do explain that we found your photo on the Find my iPhone feature on Mr.
Smith’s phone only 2 minutes after his attack?”
Suspect: “l’m guilty. I stole the phone to pay for more knitting lessons, I’m almost done with my
shawl and needed more help!”

:D
 
From my understanding, FaceID only saves an encrypted algorithm in the secure enclave and not a picture.
 
I agree. FaceID does not even store an image of the owner's face, simply data points that is used by the secure enclave chip to record a 3-D map of your face. Not an image, as such.

OP is describing a picture that the iPhone could take automatically when someone (not the owner) tries to access the phone unsuccessfully. And, FaceID could trigger the camera, rather than unlocking the phone. THAT might be workable, but not much different than a few apps that offer that function (emailing picture of person attempting to unlock your stolen/lost iPhone.), but not really a function of FaceID.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back