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Testing iOS 15.4's New Face ID With a Mask Feature

macfacts said:
Stop wishing for finger print unlock and vote with your wallet
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🤷🏽‍♂️

I haven’t bought a phone since iPhone 6s for two reasons:

1. I don’t buy phones unless I absolutely need to replace mine (and the 6s is close to that point).

2. No TouchID on the phone model with the best camera (the camera matters to me a lot).

I’d have replaced mine with the current model, but there’s no TouchID.

So... is that what you mean?
 
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iGeneo said:
Do you have supporting data that security has been "weakened"
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No but I read the article. Apple reportedly says it is less secure. And considering it’s only measuring, at best, a third of your face, I fail to see how it can’t be. Deliberately weakening biometric security in exchange for convenience doesn‘t seem like a great idea to me, but others will disagree. As is their prerogative.
 
LonestarOne said:
If you don’t want it, don’t buy it. There are plenty of alternatives.

www.androidauthority.com

I test all the best Android phones every year, and these are the ones you should buy in 2026

From Google to Samsung to Xiaomi, everyone wants to make the best Android phone. Here are the ones we think earn that title.
www.androidauthority.com
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I prefer Apple devices, otherwise. Among the Apple devices, I want the one with the best camera functionality. That one doesn’t have TouchID. So... 🤷🏽‍♂️

I don’t see why FaceID and TouchID have to be mutually exclusive. Give us the choice on the same devices.
 
The face unlock works with any mask and with any mask with Apple Pay. I tested it with a blue surgical mask, a black cloth mask that really covers most of the face, and a white K95 mask. I wear glasses and it works and you have the option for an alternative face scan for another pair I believe. Totally reliable so far. As such we may not need the return of Touch ID - but I wouldn’t mind it - however this seems to resolve the mask issue and unlocking your phone.
 
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upgraded to 15.4 just for this. i wear glasses and it has no problem recognising me with glasses + mask on.

i wonder why it took them this long to release it. maybe they wanted to spend a bit more time seeing how secure it'd be to unlock with just your eyes/eyebrow and without an apple watch as a secondary factor.

thanks apple.
 
Fat_Guy said:
The face unlock works with any mask and with any mask with Apple Pay. I tested it with a blue surgical mask, a black cloth mask that really covers most of the face, and a white K95 mask. I wear glasses and it works and you have the option for an alternative face scan for another pair I believe. Totally reliable so far. As such we may not need the return of Touch ID - but I wouldn’t mind it - however this seems to resolve the mask issue and unlocking your phone.
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yup with this it lessens the argument for Touch ID but not gonna lie i would prefer to have a fingerprint sensor in the power button on my iphone (like the iPad Air) so that it frees up a bit of space to slim down the notch a bit further or maybe get a hole punch display. if apple can make under display Face ID work then whatever i don't care what they use then.
 
I’m wondering how this won’t work on an iPhone 11 at least? It’s not exactly underpowered..
 
re: article pic
under armor face mask - oh brother under armor underwear company/designer active wear - now into designer face masks - the new reality of the times - designer face masks
 
DanTSX said:
Yup. Roughly 70% less of the topography is being scanned.

It’s either that the scan is less discrimnate, or the scan is going to be extremely unforgiving in unlocking on the remaining ~30% of features. Hence why it won’t unlock with mask and sunglasses, but sunglasses were ok before.
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Documentation or a link from Apple that confirms this?
 
Jim Lahey said:
No but I read the article. Apple reportedly says it is less secure. And considering it’s only measuring, at best, a third of your face, I fail to see how it can’t be. Deliberately weakening biometric security in exchange for convenience doesn‘t seem like a great idea to me, but others will disagree. As is their prerogative.
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Face ID has a false positive rate of about 1 in 1 million. Touch ID has a false positive rate of about 1 in 50,000

If FaceID is now 1 in 500,000, that would be perfectly acceptable.
 
iGeneo said:
Face ID has a false positive rate of about 1 in 1 million. Touch ID has a false positive rate of about 1 in 50,000

If FaceID is now 1 in 500,000, that would be perfectly acceptable.
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So we can agree they weakened security. What we don’t know is by how much, so you just made up a number. After asking me for data 🤔
 
Jim Lahey said:
So we can agree they weakened security. What we don’t know is by how much, so you just made up a number. After asking me for data 🤔
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Your argument is null.. Apple wouldn't release it without adequate security.. But to you, the sky is falling, while others prefer the far less secure Touch ID.
 
Great addition, yet why not extend it to all FaceID devices? Is there a real hardware limitation in pre-iPhone 12 models?
 
AFDoc said:
Haven't a lot of us been doing this already when attached to our apple watch? This simply takes the watch out of it..... Surprised how many people don't seem to have an apple watch here on MR.

Also funny how many people whine here on MR.... Everything apple does just isn't good enough for some lol.
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The MR members who don‘t have a watch are kept locked away in MR posting prison. The MR members who complain about everything Apple have nowhere else to go. Android got tired of them as well.
 
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zorinlynx said:
The iPhone 12 requirement makes me angry because it's a clear ploy to get people to upgrade their phones. The 11 series is still a good enough phone for most people and my guess is not enough people are upgrading so they need a bit of an extra stick.

Anyway, not that big a deal; there's a good chance masks won't be required in most places much longer.
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Neural engine performance was significantly improved with the iPhone 12/12 Pro. Apple still sells the iPhone 11 so if it was capable of using the new feature, they would’ve given it the new feature. In addition to my iPhone 12 Pro, I still have my iPhone X and there are some features that the XS got in recent iOS updates that my X didn’t get.
 
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JosephAW said:
Apple users get a glimpse of how long it takes Apple to implement something as they took over two years, two iOS versions, and requires new one year old hardware or newer just to scan a face with a mask. 🙄
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I would rather Apple take longer than others to implement, especially when it concerns security.
 
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Biglethal69 said:
No it’s not does not have the same front camera quality as 12 and 13. 😷
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Apple has a long history of restricting software features to new devices, despite older devices being perfectly capable hardware wise. It's straight marketing gimmicks to get people to buy the new shiny thing.
 
Jim Lahey said:
The fact that Apple is willing to deliberately weaken the robustness of a heavily touted security feature in order to facilitate the normalisation of face coverings makes me seriously question their motives going forward. What else will they be willing to do in order to rub up to government decrees in the future? I don’t care if people want to wear masks but I do care that everyone else has to potentially suffer the consequences. I suppose at least you can disable it on your own device, but if the banks and card issuers don’t block this then they too have pinned their colours to the mast.
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It's not to deliberately weaken, it's to fine-tune surveillance technology.
 
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