A 10-year-old kid unlocks his mom’s iPhone X on his first attempt despite the phone is secured by a Face ID. You may argue that he might look like his mother. But the interesting fact is that there’s no striking resemblance between his mother and him.
It all started when Ammar Malik, a fifth-grade kid walked into his parent’s (Attaullah Malik and Sana Sherwani) room to admire their new pair of iPhone Xs which they bought earlier this month. And when he took his mom’s iPhone and took a glance at it, the phone immediately unlocked which shocked his parents. According to a report by the wired, Although the parents found it funny at first, they later realized that it wasn’t really funny and there might be a possibility that their kid could unlock the phone and could order anything through the apps installed on it (Although the parents mentioned that Ammar is a “good kid” who isn’t likely to take advantage of his access to his mother’s phone. Malik also added that Ammar gets the best grades in his class).
Face ID is a security mechanism in iPhone X to unlock the handset which is a replacement for the plain old Touch ID fingerprint scanner. And ever since Apple presented the first demo of Face ID on iPhone X at its launch event, many tried to bypass the Face ID system. Recently, a Vietnamese security firm claimed that they hacked the Face ID technology using a specially constructed 3D-printed mask.
However, Apple mentioned in its white paper and support page that “the statistical probability is different for twins and siblings that look like you and among children under the age of 13, because their distinct facial features may not have fully developed. If you’re concerned about this, we recommend using a passcode to authenticate.”
According to the report, when Sherwani, the kid’s mom re-registered her face into the iPhone X, Ammar couldn’t unlock the device. They tried again by registering her face a few hours later in an indoor nighttime lighting condition in which she first set up her phone. This time, Ammar unlocked the phone on his third attempt and then again on his sixth attempt.
According to Malik, the kid’s father, the phone’s AI learned Ammar’s features, and he could consistently unlock it again and again. While Apple did not respond to the news yet, it mentioned that the Face ID will learn from its mistakes using AI to recognize the faces better next time when the user tries to unlock the device in the White paper.
It’s unclear how widespread the Face ID family problem extends, but in case if you encounter such situation try re-registering your face in a different light and test it.
Have you encountered such situation? Share your views in the comments below!
