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Face ID Double Security Feature!

D

donster28

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 5, 2006
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Great White North
Been using the iPhone X since launch regularly (and who hasn't) and noticed a security feature that locks Face ID if it thinks you're trying to fool it. Has anyone notice it?

If someone else tries to unlock your phone via FaceID it will most certainly fail, but if the phone is passed to the registered owner and tries it again immediately after (without turning the phone off), it won't unlock until you actually turn the screen off and on again (or hit cancel and swipe again). I discovered this when I was showing off FaceID to my friends, and every single time it did this, which was kind of embarrassing.

Similarly, if FaceID fails to recognize the registered owner's face the first time, it will not function until the phone is turned off and on again or cancelled and swiped again.

As far as I know, this is not in Apple's documentation online so if anyone thinks it's failing on them, think about my observation above.
 
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I’m not quite sure what you’re saying here. From my observations it seems like Face ID is a one shot thing... once it sees a face it tries to authenticate it and if it fails then it won’t keep looking for more faces until you cancel and swipe up again or turn the phone off and on again.

I’m not sure if it’s a security feature or just a way to keep from reading and failing on the same face over and over again.
 
BrettDS said:
I’m not quite sure what you’re saying here. From my observations it seems like Face ID is a one shot thing... once it sees a face it tries to authenticate it and if it fails then it won’t keep looking for more faces until you cancel and swipe up again or turn the phone off and on again.

I’m not sure if it’s a security feature or just a way to keep from reading and failing on the same face over and over again.
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That’s exactly what I’m talking about. The fact that you won’t be able to use it after a failed attempt, unless you turn the phone off and on, makes me think that was done purposely as an added security feature.
 
donster28 said:
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. The fact that you won’t be able to use it after a failed attempt, unless you turn the phone off and on, makes me think that was done purposely as an added security feature.
Click to expand...

But you don’t have to turn the phone on and off. Like I said above, when the password prompt comes up you can also hit cancel and then swipe up again and it will check another face.
 
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TinyChip said:
When Face ID fails to authenticate for the owner, don’t cancel or switch it off. Instead, enter your passcode so that Face ID reliability improves by adding new data about the owner’s face. Apple has said there’s machine-learning tech in Face ID.
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Sorry I missed that...is that documented somewhere?

In any case, what I’m saying is that if someone else tries to unlock the phone via FaceID, and one who doesn’t know my passcode, the phone will not unlock via FaceID until it’s turned off and on. Now if it’s me it didn’t recognize the first time, I can simply type my passcode and the tech will learn in time, right?
 
donster28 said:
Sorry I missed that...is that documented somewhere?

In any case, what I’m saying is that if someone else tries to unlock the phone via FaceID, and one who doesn’t know my passcode, the phone will not unlock via FaceID until it’s turned off and on. Now if it’s me it didn’t recognize the first time, I can simply type my passcode and the tech will learn in time, right?
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No. You don’t have to turn your phone off. End of story.
 
BrettDS said:
But you don’t have to turn the phone on and off. Like I said above, when the password prompt comes up you can also hit cancel and then swipe up again and it will check another face.
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Pardon me, yeah, you can swipe up (updated my original post). The mere fact it’s wanting to start over (either via switch or swiping up) is the extra security feature I’m getting to.
 
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donster28 said:
Pardon me, yeah, you can swipe up. The mere fact it’s wanting to start over (either via switch or swiping up) is the extra security feature I’m getting to.
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It’s the same security feature. You need to unlock with face or enter passcode.

It does not unlock with someone else’s face or passcode.
 
tromboneaholic said:
No. You don’t have to turn your phone off. End of story.
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Yeah, I know that.

That’s not what I’m trying to convey...yeah you can swipe up instead of turning the phone off, whatever but the fact it’s wanting you to start over is the added security I’m talking about.
[doublepost=1510423555][/doublepost]
tromboneaholic said:
It’s the same security feature. You need to unlock with face or enter passcode.

It does not unlock with someone else’s face or passcode.
Click to expand...
Sorry but you lost me...thanks for chiming in anyway.
 
donster28 said:
Yeah, I know that.

That’s not what I’m trying to convey...yeah you can swipe up instead of turning the phone off, whatever but the fact it’s wanting you to start over is the added security I’m talking about.
[doublepost=1510423555][/doublepost]
Sorry but you lost me...thanks for chiming in anyway.
Click to expand...

I’m not sure I see that as a security feature. I suspect that there is a technical reason that it works the way it does.

But exactly how do you see this as being more secure?
 
BrettDS said:
I’m not sure I see that as a security feature. I suspect that there is a technical reason that it works the way it does.

But exactly how do you see this as being more secure?
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I see it not as a technical limitation of Face ID but a function. Of course there are times that Face ID will fail (due to the phone’s angle, etc.), but there are times it just won’t unlock your phone because it saw a different face altogether and immediately trying to unlock it with the proper registered face afterwards will not do it unless you start over. That’s what I’m trying to say here. You would think it will unlock after seeing the registered face immediately (while the screen is still on and was not turned off), but it will not unless you start over.
 
donster28 said:
I see it not as a technical limitation of Face ID but a function. Of course there are times that Face ID will fail (due to the phone’s angle, etc.), but there are times it just won’t unlock your phone because it saw a different face altogether and immediately trying to unlock it with the proper registered face afterwards will not do it unless you start over. That’s what I’m trying to say here. You would think it will unlock after seeing the registered face immediately (while the screen is still on and was not turned off), but it will not unless you start over.
Click to expand...
How is this more secure?
 
donster28 said:
I see it not as a technical limitation of Face ID but a function. Of course there are times that Face ID will fail (due to the phone’s angle, etc.), but there are times it just won’t unlock your phone because it saw a different face altogether and immediately trying to unlock it with the proper registered face afterwards will not do it unless you start over. That’s what I’m trying to say here. You would think it will unlock after seeing the registered face immediately (while the screen is still on and was not turned off), but it will not unless you start over.
Click to expand...

I get that, but I don’t understand where the extra security comes from. Someone can simply hit cancel and swipe up again pointing the phone at you this time if they are trying to break in.
 
BrettDS said:
I get that, but I don’t understand where the extra security comes from. Someone can simply hit cancel and swipe up again pointing the phone at you this time if they are trying to break in.
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The extra security feature (or extra effort needed - if we don’t have to call it a security feature) was implemented to give it a some sort of “pause”. It’s Face ID’s way of telling the user: “Hey! Start over..I don’t trust you”.

And to me this is the added security or “sense of security”, if I may call it that.
 
donster28 said:
The extra security feature (or extra effort needed - if we don’t have to call it a security feature) was implemented to give it a some sort of “pause”. It’s FaceID’s way of telling the user: “hey! Start over..I don’t trust you”.

And to me this is the added security. And I mean “sense of security”.
Click to expand...
What extra feature or effort was implemented?
 
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