Face ID for Mac Remains Distant Despite Years of Rumors

[Shirasaki]

The thing about FaceID on a Mac is that it would work with a MacBook, an iMac and maybe with a Studio Display. But Mac Studios, Mac Pros and Mac minis would be left out. So perhaps Apple doesn't want to fragment their Mac line in that way.

But we have different tier of iPad with Touch ID and Face ID, yet no one raises an eyebrow about that “fragmentation”. Mac can do the same too if this is the argument. Desktop Mac without display by default uses Touch ID. Those with a screen (such as all MacBooks) uses Face ID.

 

[Shirasaki]

Of course it’s years away. If they added Face ID to Macs right now, display would be too thick and notebooks becomes uncomfortable to carry around.

It’ll be couple more years before Apple manages to make FaceID ultra thin that it would fit MacBook’s display without sacrificing the thickness.

But current MBP screens are already thick enough imo. Apple may not need to thin down the module too much to fit. The decision of not adding Face ID probably is a combo of engineering and business decision.

 

[xSushi]

Are Gurman or Kuo ever correct anymore?

 

[ApplePlectic]

Touch screen Macs = the next MacBook TouchBar. What a useless waste of resources. Isn't that the sort of thing that would cannibalize iPad sales? And FaceID should have been here years ago. At least build the option into the OS and let users buy Apple branded or third-party FaceID compliant web cams. It is decidedly NOT more convenient to move my hand a couple of feet across my desk to reach the TouchID button than to simply glance up at a camera to authenticate. Convenience is a dubious claim, if true. I would wager FaceID beats a touch screen MacBook handily with respect to the interest and increased sales it would generate.

 

[lovehateapple]

Just putting this out there: I’d like Touch ID on my iPhone and Face ID on my Mac.

I like faceID on my phone and would like to see two factor authentication on my Mac, meaning both face & touch ID required to unlock.

 

[Anonymous123]

I like faceID on my phone and would like to see two factor authentication on my Mac, meaning both face & touch ID required to unlock.

Yeah, both on iPhone would be great also. I like options, and the reason you mentioned would be nice too.

 

[Rayansb]

Face ID for Mac. Touch ID for iPhone. Get it done.

 

[Marty80]

i still prefer touch id, it works better.

 

[johannnn]

We have touchID on the keyboard. I don’t see why anyone wants FaceID

 

[DCIFRTHS]

We have touchID on the keyboard. I don’t see why anyone wants FaceID

Users with third party keyboards might want FaceID…

 

[frownface]

I don't have to swipe to unlock mine. Open the lid or press a key to turn on the screen and it unlocks to desktop right away. That must be something that's setup on your pc.

Well not necessarily swipe, works by hitting a key too. Either way it asks me to dismiss the lock screen before letting me to my desktop.
A cursory google shows that this is a setting that can be toggled. But I went and checked, and interestingly mine has automatic dismiss enabled; yet it still requires me to dismiss the lock screen to enter.

I'm guessing it's some group policy setting by our overzealous IT dept. But either way i cannot get to my desktop without physical interaction by either hitting a key, or swiping away the lockscreen.

 

[ikunalz]

My secret source in the Apple supply-chain in China told me that Apple could implement Face ID for Macs at some point in the future. But he also told me that Apple could just continue with Touch ID, or might even revert to having only password-based security.

 

[foobarbaz]

The reason I want Face ID in an external monitor is not that it is better. It’s because Apple is not selling standalone TouchID buttons.

I need use an ergonomic keyboard, and Apple will never make one, so I‘m still typing my passwords 9 years after TouchID has come to the Mac.

 

[RootFayel]

*Worker 1: locks screen to hide commercially sensitive information*

*Worker 2: was that news about the merger?*

*Mac with faceid: unlocks*

*Worker 1: stop looking!*

Lol. Would this not work like phones? Button/Lift-FaceID-Swipe and so for MacBook Lid/Anykey-FaceID-Anykey?

 

[Karllake]

Apple dropped Touch ID from the iPhone because the iPhone lost the home button so Apple needed to develop and implement a different biometric authentication method. The Mac doesn't need it. Personally I prefer Touch ID although I don't mind Face ID.

I also prefer touch ID. when using Apple Pay on my iPhone it’s more work to aim the screen at my face then it used to be when I had Touch ID. On the iPad you still have to contact the device so on my MacBook having the contact element and the sensor together just makes sense to me.

 

[RootFayel]

I find this to be completely not true, in my case and I imagine many others.

In fact, I'm finding this statement to be completely detached from reality and bass ackwards.

My hand isn't on the keyboard when I've clicked on "LOGIN" or some other similar situation, it is on the mouse!

Website design is all over the place, but especially with the separate screens for username and password being so common these days, the following is par for the course:

1) Click LOG IN
2) Move hand over to touch the TOUCH ID button for the username
3) Move hand back to the mouse to click OK
4) Move hand back to the TOUCH ID button for the password
5) Move hand back to the mouse to click OK
-----
6) Turn off TOUCH ID because it is such a nuisance

What about the Finder...? Well, when I have to authenticate something, my hand generally is also NOT on the keyboard, it is was on the mouse clicking or dragging or whatever it was I was doing that now needs authentication. So I have to shift over to the TOUCH ID button again.

You know what is true 100% of those times, though? I'm facing the freaking screen! I wouldn't have to do ANYTHING for FACE ID to work.

So true, FaceID would be more convenient when paying etc as you are facing the screen already.

 

[maszaikasza]

Why is it so hard when phones have had this for years!

Probably because macbook lid is few milimeters thick, which makes it hard to put emiiters and sensors there.

 

[N47H]

In 2021, Apple marketing VP Tom Boger said that there's no Face ID on the Mac because Touch ID is more convenient. Users' hands are already on the keyboard, so Apple feels that Touch ID makes more sense.

If this is the logic behind Apple’s decision making, then I’d love to know how exactly the guys at Apple are holding their phones if not with their hands?

Wait a minute. iPhone 4… “You’re holding it wrong…” it’s all beginning to make sense, you were never meant to use your hands in the first place! Steve Jobs was right!

Mystery solved guys.

 

[zogzog]

But current MBP screens are already thick enough imo. Apple may not need to thin down the module too much to fit. The decision of not adding Face ID probably is a combo of engineering and business decision.

The photograph of the FaceID/front camera module from the teardown of iPhone Air makes it look too thick to fit inside the MBP screen. Note that the module goes inside the bump on the iPhone Air, not the main body which is about as thin as the MBP screen.

 

[robvalentine]

Why is it so hard when phones have had this for years!

My ASUS zen book has it. It’s 2 years old, and wasn’t the first. It’s like they are saving features and dishing them out sporadically when they absolutely have to.

 

[svish]

Think with M6 MacBook Pro getting a huge redesign, with OLED and touch screen, any FaceID implementation will be kept aside for a refresh down the road. I would like to see both FaceID and TouchID together in MacBooks and iMac and not one replacing the other.

 

[mrgrdn]

A few years ago, I had a Sruface Pro and the face unlock was hit or miss ... sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. In comparison, typing a password or using a touch id is mos def more reliable

 

[con2apple]

In 2021, Apple marketing VP Tom Boger said that there's no Face ID on the Mac because Touch ID is more convenient.

For those who don't understand marketing jargon:
Apple prefers TouchID because it allows them to sell their overpriced keyboard. Otherwise, they would have to offer it at half price.
But thanks to TouchID, customers are “gently persuaded” to spend more money.

 

[con2apple]

So Face ID which is actually useful you can't have, instead here is a touch screen Mac no one asked for... IF these rumours are true of course.

I would disagree with that. Customers have been hoping for a touchscreen Mac for decades. There was even a company that turned the MacBook into a tablet. That was over fifteen years ago.

 

[zecal]

FaceID is so much better and quicker. TouchID is not ideal; it simply does not work (reliably) after a swim, using hand cream, with sweaty/moist fingers etc. I had to re-set TouchID multiple times.