Why no FaceID on iMacs?

[zorinlynx]

Imagine, you sit down at your iMac and it immediately unlocks and you get to work. When you're done, you get up and after a minute or so it locks.

Then one of your family members sits down, and it immediately unlocks... to THEIR account. They do some things real quick and get up, and it locks again.

No typing in usernames and passwords, just sit down and it unlocks like magic.

Apple has the technology to do this; why haven't they released iMacs with FaceID yet?

 

[EnderBeta]

That would be awesome.

 

[redheeler]

I'd like to see a Face ID iMac as well, but we haven't seen it yet because the R&D budget for Macs clearly isn't what it should be. That's why it took three years to bring Touch ID to the MacBook Pro. It'll likely be three years for Face ID as well. The Mac is always three years behind.

 

[EnderBeta]

At least I have my Apple Watch to unlock my Mac as soon as I sit down and wake it up. Face ID would be better, but it isn’t all bad.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

We can speculate endlessly over why it is not yet a feature, but it is speculation. "Apple doesn't give Mac all the love we want" will always be true, simply because I can't think of any product where the passionate customer's wish list is ever fully realized. Personally, I don't think the "delay" is related to budget, but that's just my take on things.

I think Apple would generate a lot more excitement by rolling out gesture control than by adding Face ID, and that customers would be disappointed if the only application of the newly-added True Depth Sensor was Face ID. The R&D effort to deliver Apple-quality gesture control to macOS is far greater than that required for adding already-developed features (Face ID and AR) to another platform, so my guess is that gesture control is the factor holding back Face ID. (But it is only a guess.)

That said, the addition of True Depth Sensors to Mac has been on my wish list for years. Not so much for easy unlocking (Unlock with Apple Watch already accomplishes that for me), but for the other applications of the depth sensors - adding gestures to the UI, and AR.

Now that the T2 chip has been finding its way into Macs, I think it's just a matter of time. Touch ID for Mac does support multiple users, so I see no reason Face ID would not.

 

[redheeler]

At least I have my Apple Watch to unlock my Mac as soon as I sit down and wake it up. Face ID would be better, but it isn’t all bad.

That said, the addition of True Depth Sensors to Mac has been on my wish list for years. Not so much for easy unlocking (Unlock with Apple Watch already accomplishes that for me), but for the other applications of the depth sensors - adding gestures to the UI, and AR.

I must be the only iMac user in the world without an Apple Watch, meaning I have to type my full password every time to unlock the iMac just like everyone else did before they got their Apple Watch. Oh well.

Gesture control is an interesting idea, indeed this would require immense R&D spending. No doubt we'd see it developed for the iPhone / iPad first, then the iMac - three years later, of course.

 

[EnderBeta]

I must be the only iMac user in the world without an Apple Watch, meaning I have to type my full password every time to unlock the iMac just like everyone else did before they got their Apple Watch. Oh well.

Gesture control is an interesting idea, indeed this would require immense R&D spending. No doubt we'd see it developed for the iPhone / iPad first, then the iMac - three years later, of course.

Unless we get airplay with some sort of desktop docking for a iPad to work like a iMac at a desk. This would work if things like Xcode and VMWare Fusion are ported to iOS.

 

[akash.nu]

We can speculate endlessly over why it is not yet a feature, but it is speculation. "Apple doesn't give Mac all the love we want" will always be true, simply because I can't think of any product where the passionate customer's wish list is ever fully realized. Personally, I don't think the "delay" is related to budget, but that's just my take on things.

I think Apple would generate a lot more excitement by rolling out gesture control than by adding Face ID, and that customers would be disappointed if the only application of the newly-added True Depth Sensor was Face ID. The R&D effort to deliver Apple-quality gesture control to macOS is far greater than that required for adding already-developed features (Face ID and AR) to another platform, so my guess is that gesture control is the factor holding back Face ID. (But it is only a guess.)

That said, the addition of True Depth Sensors to Mac has been on my wish list for years. Not so much for easy unlocking (Unlock with Apple Watch already accomplishes that for me), but for the other applications of the depth sensors - adding gestures to the UI, and AR.

Now that the T2 chip has been finding its way into Macs, I think it's just a matter of time. Touch ID for Mac does support multiple users, so I see no reason Face ID would not.

As nice as it sounds, if you mean gesture control in the air then it’s not really practical in day to day usage. It’s really tiring to wave around in front of a camera all day long and also it’s not something we’re naturally used to doing. This is a well researched area in interaction design. It only looks nice in movies.

However, more gesture control on the trackpad is a different matter altogether.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

As nice as it sounds, if you mean gesture control in the air then it’s not really practical in day to day usage. It’s really tiring to wave around in front of a camera all day long and also it’s not something we’re naturally used to doing. This is a well researched area in interaction design. It only looks nice in movies.

However, more gesture control on the trackpad is a different matter altogether.

I agree that if the gestures had to be like those of Tom Cruise in Minority Report, it'd get tiring very quickly. In large part, those big movements were done for the sake of drama, a small flick of the wrist would not have played well on the big screen.

We can't spend our days gesticulating like orchestra conductors. I'd have the same objection to that as I would to working with a 27" touchscreen.

I expect that to be successful, the gestures would have to be much smaller, little different than the range of motion used on a trackpad or with a mouse. It's a matter of perspective - if your hand is a few inches from the display, a swipe from one edge of the display to the other is a very large movement. If your hand is a foot or two from the display (and closer to your body), the change in perspective means your movements can be much smaller to encompass that same edge-to-edge travel.

What I'm hoping for is that I can sit back in my chair, several feet from the display (or more) and with a flick of the wrist scroll some text and with the quick extension of my index finger click a button.

 

[alphaswift]

Install Windows on your iMac and see if Windows Hello works.

 

[Moonjumper]

I'm not keen on having FaceID, but don't mind it being there as long as the iMac will still work with it covered. I'd rather have TouchID.

There are work areas that require cameras to be covered, and also many iMacs are in personal spaces such as bedrooms, so might be covered for privacy. Unlike an iPhone/iPad that is likely pointing at the ceiling when not in use, an iMac looks across the room.

 

[akash.nu]

I agree that if the gestures had to be like those of Tom Cruise in Minority Report, it'd get tiring very quickly. In large part, those big movements were done for the sake of drama, a small flick of the wrist would not have played well on the big screen.

We can't spend our days gesticulating like orchestra conductors. I'd have the same objection to that as I would to working with a 27" touchscreen.

I expect that to be successful, the gestures would have to be much smaller, little different than the range of motion used on a trackpad or with a mouse. It's a matter of perspective - if your hand is a few inches from the display, a swipe from one edge of the display to the other is a very large movement. If your hand is a foot or two from the display (and closer to your body), the change in perspective means your movements can be much smaller to encompass that same edge-to-edge travel.

What I'm hoping for is that I can sit back in my chair, several feet from the display (or more) and with a flick of the wrist scroll some text and with the quick extension of my index finger click a button.

Ah I see your point. However, I feel like this use case is pretty narrow and possibly not enough to sway Apple. But something like that may be useful for a lot of people.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

I'd like to see a Face ID iMac as well, but we haven't seen it yet because the R&D budget for Macs clearly isn't what it should be. That's why it took three years to bring Touch ID to the MacBook Pro. It'll likely be three years for Face ID as well. The Mac is always three years behind.

And why the Butterfly Keyboard somehow made it out of the lab.

 

[Lankyman]

I just press the spacebar on my iMac and it's awake and ready for use. There again it's always in sleep mode and the wife and I trust each other so no need for passwords.

 

[akash.nu]

I just press the spacebar on my iMac and it's awake and ready for use. There again it's always in sleep mode and the wife and I trust each other so no need for passwords.

Password is not for your wife though. It’s security in general. What if you get broken into?! Your whole digital life is there for the taking. I think people misunderstands privacy / security vs trust.

 

[Lankyman]

Password is not for your wife though. It’s security in general. What if you get broken into?! Your whole digital life is there for the taking. I think people misunderstands privacy / security vs trust.

Well I doubt a burglar would sit there in front of the computer, he would more than likely unplug it and remove it, at which point on boot up a password would then be required.

 

[akash.nu]

Well I doubt a burglar would sit there in front of the computer, he would more than likely unplug it and remove it, at which point on boot up a password would then be required.

Ah so you do have some sort of password at least. Phew

 

[askunk]

It may be because it should have to rely on a Tx chip, which needs an SSD (they do not work on HDDs).

 

[EnderBeta]

Well I doubt a burglar would sit there in front of the computer, he would more than likely unplug it and remove it, at which point on boot up a password would then be required.

It depends on what the person is looking to steal. The most effective theft is a theft that people do not know has occurred.

 

[ATC]

Imagine, you sit down at your iMac and it immediately unlocks and you get to work. When you're done, you get up and after a minute or so it locks.

Then one of your family members sits down, and it immediately unlocks... to THEIR account. They do some things real quick and get up, and it locks again.

No typing in usernames and passwords, just sit down and it unlocks like magic.

Apple has the technology to do this; why haven't they released iMacs with FaceID yet?

This is the one thing I miss from when we had the surface laptop; windows hello was incredible and exactly how you describe this. If my wife opens the laptop instead of me, it would automatically log her into her account, instantly too.

We have TouchID on our MBP and MBA but if I’m being honest windows hello on the surface laptop was way better; more convenient and faster too.