In an email reply to developer Keith Krimbel, Apple’s software engineering chief Craig Federighi has confirmed that Face ID will work seamlessly with sunglasses as well, in addition to hats, scarves, beards, glasses, makeup, and other items that might obscure the face. “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!”, wrote Federighi.
The developer also asked the Apple exec about what would prevent a thief from taking the iPhone X, pointing it at his face and running off, to which Federighi replied, “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 [you] hand it over, it will temporarily disable Face ID” (via MacRumors).
Federighi also commented on why the Face ID feature didn’t work during the keynote on first attempt.
According to Apple, the software failed because someone else had picked up the phone ahead of Federighi’s demo. Federighi says it’s not really an issue he had encountered before.
“The bio-lockout that I experienced on stage would require several interacts by other people with your phone (where they woke up the phone). For those of us who have been living on the iPhone X over the last months this has never been a real problem (hence my shock when it happened to me on stage! :-)”
Apple says the new Face ID feature, which will replace Touch ID as the new biometric authentication system on iPhone X, is the future of how we will unlock our phones.
