Face ID: Description and Usage

01 November, 2017, by Shirley Crossman

Modern realities make us think about the sensitive data protection more often. Strong passwords, data encryption, and awareness of the hacker attacks are the inseparable part of business units and individuals. In this respect, Apple has made a real breakthrough with its Touch ID technology and now even outdo own achievements with more sophisticated and reliable feature. Face ID represents a new level of user authentication by creating a structural card of your face by means of innovative technologies.

This innovative system of face recognition will be automatically applied to programs, which already use Touch ID. With the help of Face ID, it will be possible to confirm different actions and purchases in the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store. This system of authentication is a sophisticated feature, which brings the security issues to another level.

Operation Principle

Face ID is designed for simple and convenient usage. One glance will be enough to recognize your face and unlock the iPhone. Moreover, this functionality can adjust to changes in your appearance and can identify you with the makeup, contact lens or sunglasses. In case of more serious changes of your face, such as beard, the system will request you to verify your identity by inserting the password and will perform the updating of your face identification.

Face ID works outdoors and indoors and is capable to recognize your face even in a complete darkness. Such advanced functionality is provided due to high-quality Apple components. The TrueDepth camera detects your face, using flood illuminator for performing it in the dark. IR camera will take your photo and your face will be verified by more than 30,000 invisible dots by means of the dot detector.

Though this process seems to be quite complicated and time-consuming, the authentication is executed within a second. It is possible due to A11 Bionic chipset mathematical presentation of the face and its immediate comparison with the stored credentials. Due to its algorithms, A11 Bionic chipset is capable to perform 600 billion operations in a second. Thus, the process of authentication by dint of the Face ID will be a quick and smooth procedure.

Advantages of the Face ID

The first and the most significant purpose of the Face ID is a quick and convenient unblocking of the iPhone by means of face verification. But still Face ID provides other useful features and opportunities:

1. Apple pay. While making purchases, it will become even easier to confirm your actions. The whole procedure will consist of a few tapping and glance at the screen. Your purchases have never been so easy.

2. You will have an opportunity to create animated emotions by means of the voice and your facial expressions.

3. Third-party Apps. Some apps of vendors will be able to use Face ID and due to it will offer their users more sophisticated services.

Reliability of the Functionality

It is of great importance to make the functionality of such sort reliable and secure, and Apple developers have done their best. All data, which is required for Face ID recognition, is encrypted and carefully protected. The possibility that any other user can unblock your device by means of the Face ID is 1 to 1 000 000 compared to 1 to 50 000 for Touch ID. For additional security after five unsuccessful attempts of authentication, the system will request a password. The complicated mechanism does not enable recognition of face from the photo and detects your attention. Thus, you need to view the device to enable Face ID; indirect and occasional glances at your device will not activate the system.

Confidentiality of Your Data

Apple takes care of the security of the personal data of users. The data that belongs to you will be protected by the Secure Enclave module. These data files are stored only on your device and can be transferred for solving any issues with the support only by your consent. After activating the Face ID option you can switch it off at any moment. While using Face ID for authorization in other programs your data will be unavailable for these programs. They receive notification about successful or failed identification without having access to the information.

How to Start Using Face ID

The setup of the Face ID is very simple. If you have not performed it by the initial setup of your iPhone X, your actions should be the following.

1. Navigate to Settings->FaceID&Passcode
2. Enter your Passcode
3. In the Face ID section tap “Enroll Face”
4. Select “Get Started”
5. Adhere to the displayed instructions
6. Make sure your face fits the frame on the screen and move your head around for appropriate scanning.

Applying for Face ID is simple and secure. Take advantages of this new feature and make your experience of iPhone X usage even more sophisticated.