Face ID on iPhone X Works With Most Sunglasses, Can Easily be Disabled
Apple’s Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, talked more about some of the Face ID features of iPhone X in a recent email to a MacRumors reader.
Face ID uses the iPhone X TrueDepth camera.
While Apple mentioned in the keynote that the system can’t be fooled by a mask or photo and does work even when the user is wearing items like glasses, hat, and scarves, there was no specific mention about sunglasses. But Federighi indicated that most shouldn’t be an issue:
“Most sunglasses let through enough IR light that Face ID can see your eyes even when the glasses appear to be opaque. It’s really amazing!”
He also answered a question about what would prevent a thief from unlocking a phone by just pointing it at your face for a split second and then running:
There are two mitigations: if you don’t stare at the phone, it won’t unlock. Also, if you grip the buttons on both sides of the phone when your hand is over it, it will temporarily disable FaceID.
Face ID replaces the previous Touch ID biometric authentication system.
The iPhone X can be preordered starting on Friday, Oct. 27 and will arrive one week later on Friday, Nov. 3. A 64GB edition is $999 while the 256GB version is $1,149.
More about the iPhone X
