In a test conducted by news site Mashable, Apple’s new iPhone X experienced issues in identifying twins, mistakenly unlocking itself with the wrong person in front of its face-recognition sensor.
Aside from the iPhone X’s new edge-to-edge OLED display, Apple also introduced the Face ID feature that allows users to unlock the smartphone by only looking at the sensor. While it did sound promising, it was later reported that the Cupertino-based company told suppliers to reduce the accuracy of the face-recognition technology to make it much easier to manufacture (the firm refuted the report later).
And as people start to get their hands on the much-awaited device, observations about its features are coming up online. For one, news website Mashable recently raised a concern about Face ID’s abilities in telling twins apart, as this could become a serious loophole within the system to secretly gain access to the owner’s phone.
To test this out, two pairs of identical twins were brought in, MJ and Marc Franklin, and Carlos and Alex Cadorniga. Both have stated that they often confuse friends and family with their identity. One registered his credentials to the iPhone X’s Face ID feature, and then handed the locked handset to the other.
The result? The phone mistakenly recognized the other twin as the former and unlocked the device. Even taking off accessories such as glasses reportedly did not make any difference.
Apple, however, did point out that the system might run into issues when it encounters identical persons, noting how even such a feature can be beat by simply using passwords. «If you happen to have an evil twin, you really need to protect your sensitive data with a passcode,» said Phil Schiller, senior VP for Apple.
Back in August 2015, a similar test was conducted on Microsoft’s Windows Hello feature. Contrary to the iPhone X’s results, no wrong twin was given access to the computer used.
Despite reducing the accuracy of the face-recognition sensor, Apple claims that the technology is still superior to the current Touch ID. It remains to be seen, however, if and when Face ID will gain better face-discerning capabilities.
Source: Mashable
