Apple Will Make It Easier To Unlock Your iPhone While Wearing a Face Mask (techcrunch.com) 65
Face ID was a great idea -- until large swathes of the world were forced to wear face masks, rendering it largely useless. Apple has apparently heard our pain. From a report: Users are reporting a subtle new feature in the latest developer version of iOS 13.5 that will make it easier to unlock your iPhone without having to take off your protective face mask. Videos shared on Twitter by Robert Petersen and Guilherme Rambo show that Apple devices with Face ID will jump to the backup passcode-entry screen if it detects a mask. That's not only helpful if you're unlocking your phone dozens of times a day -- which we all do -- but it's also helping to keep people safe by not forcing users to take off their masks and potentially exposing themselves to the virus.
Would rather they let you train alt with a mask... (Score:4, Informative)
I was just trying to train my iPhone for an alternate appearance, wearing a face mask - sadly as soon as I tried it said "Mask detected" and would not let me train.
I would be fine with a somewhat reduced level of security (queue the Ben Franklin quote) that just relied on the upper half of my face to unlock, rather than just activating the passcode sooner...
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Can't you just use a pattern or pin code instead?
Re:Would rather they let you train alt with a mask (Score:5, Insightful)
Just use a pin and turn off facial recognition damnit, it wasn't even a thing you could have a few years ago.
Let's keep our heads during a crisis please... everything we give away now will be harder to win back.
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I agree 100%. Why compromise an already weak security feature to make it even weaker?
In practice no-one is going to construct a rubber mask of my head that MAYBE could unlock the phone if they construct it just right.
In practice in fact, either they could simply kidnap me more easily (which as a bonus gets the phone) OR record you entering your PIN from some overhead view. I don't understand why someone does not consider that unlikely as it would be VERY easy for someone recording a video of a person enter
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That's completely false. (Score:2)
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Sounds like you've been hit in the head a number of times to come up with that nonsense.
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So in summary, 100% of use of PIN is vastly weaker from a practical standpoint than true biometric unlock mechanisms.
I agree here too - so just use fingerprint if your phone has it.
The point for me is, we don't want to establish a new normal, should the world ever get back to the old normal.... We spent quite a while figuring out the old normal so let's not be reactionary.
Re: Would rather they let you train alt with a mas (Score:2)
Tell that to the son who unlocked his *mother*'s phone. With just his face.
Biometric is retarded is retarded is biometrics. It has already been extensively explained to you, why. You should not need further arguments, as a small child could follow that. And you are insanely stupid if you still do not even get why. Plus, in that case: What are you doing on a geek site anyway?
Please hand in your geek card.
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Tell that to the son who unlocked his *mother*'s phone. With just his face.
Strange enough, we heard these stories after FaceID was introduced and they have stopped since.
One in a million people can unlock your phone with FaceID. However, if son tries to unlock the phone and fails, and then the passcode is entered, then the iPhone is tricked into thinking son was the legitimate owner (because he had the passcode), and gets trained to that face. So yes, with a bit of preparation and cooperation, you likely can make your son unlock your phone. But only with your cooperation.
It also has a PIN, FaceID much nicer. (Score:2)
Can't you just use a pattern or pin code instead?
Using FaceID means you also have a PIN set, but FaceID is much more convenient so I'd rather use that if possible.
If FaceID doesn't recognize a face it just prompts to enter the PIN.
Re: It also has a PIN, FaceID much nicer. (Score:2)
Yeah, and having no lock at all is even more convenient!
Also having no front door is more convenient!
Doesn't make it any less utterly stupid.
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Zorro, the Lone Ranger, Green Arrow, Batman... Apple willingly chooses to openly discriminate against heroes.
Let people train their FaceID with a mask on, Mr. Cook!
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The passcode doesn't work with disposable gloves. You can pay just by unlocking the phone so it would be good if it worked with masks.
Re: Would rather they let you train alt with a mas (Score:2)
Seriously?? Any touchscreen I ever used, worked with disposable gloves. But I guess I'm not courageous enoigh!
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Capacitative ones don't work with rubber/plastic gloves. Anything non-conductive won't work.
Resistive screens work fine with almost anything but are less sensitive and accurate. They are often used for things like in-car screens or industrial systems.
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Based on my anecdotal, but long-standing and repeatable evidence you're very much wrong. Heck, I just got a Costco Size Large Nitrile exam glove' from my CV19 stash and unlocked my iPhone right now.
The gloves need to be relatively thin - winter gloves without a touch surface won't work - but normal disposable latex, nitrile, or poly gloves work just fine.
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The passcode doesn't work with disposable gloves. You can pay just by unlocking the phone so it would be good if it worked with masks.
There's nothing special about the passcode, it's just your fingers on the screen. If you do something to your fingers so that unlocking with passcode doesn't work, then nothing works and the phone is unusable. That happens when you wash your hands and don't dry them, an iPhone doesn't like wet fingers.
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it's just your fingers on the screen
Do you know what a glove is?
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Nobody is "forced" to take off their mask (Score:2)
Or you can trigger it manually too (Score:1)
The passcode prompt already pops up after a couple failed FaceID attempts
Also if you swipe up it will go into the passcode screen pretty much right away. So I've never really found it hampered me that much as it is.
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I agree but in any case if you tap on the words "Face ID" in the middle of the screen it immediately bypasses the scan and take you to the passcode/pin screen. So there's no wait, just an extra tap.
CORONAMANIA (Score:1)
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"NYC relies on mass transit heavily, so it spread quite easily... People with houses are probably more likely to stay in to eat or watch a movie instead of going to a restaurant/theater."
Now reconcile this reasoning with the fact that Manhattan had the lowest infection rate per capita of the five boroughs.
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Maybe most business is done in Manhattan, and people who live in Manhattan can move throughout their daily tasks relatively easily without getting on a train? Maybe Manhattan has the highest per-capita income of all the boroughs, and likely have the clout to not be pressured into working when its unsafe? Maybe it's because more people who live in Manhattan are office workers who can do their jobs at home? Maybe there's more than one factor?
Masks do not protect you from getting sick! (Score:5, Informative)
This article casually talks about masks preventing you from getting sick. The masks that 99% of the population are wearing, like bandanas and spit masks, are to keep you from spreading the disease if you are infected with it. These masks will not prevent you from getting sick. To isolate ones airflow you need a respirator which is sealed properly.
This kind of casual misinformation has helped fuel the nonsense we are seeing around us.
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CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure. -- CDC website [cdc.gov]
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Not coronavirus, but influenza-like infections; and not a mask type comparison, but mask vs. no mask (vs. mask + hand washing) studies.
Aiello AE, Coulborn RM, Perez V, et al. A randomized intervention trial of mask use and hand hygiene to reduce seasonal influenza-like illness and influenza infections among young adults in a university setting. [nih.gov] International Journal of Infectious Diseases 2010;14:E320-E20. doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2010.02.2201
Aiello AE, Perez V, Coulborn RM, et al. Facemasks, hand hygiene, and in [nih.gov]
Re:Masks do not protect you from getting sick! (Score:4, Informative)
Surgical mask study [ada.org] about influenza (which, to be fair, is ever so slightly larger than COVID-19, but in the same general neighborhood).
Here's another comprehensive study [bmj.com] that compares cloth masks to surgical masks.
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Re: Masks do not protect you from getting sick! (Score:2)
Yeah,
even FFP2 are rated for only a few hours before the liquid has steeped through, and they basically become spit *reservoirs*, with your breathing out becoming a fan that spreads it around.
On top of people touching them inside and outside anyway, so the spit lands on the outside and is blown away when you breathe out.
Good masks work if they are used as designed, by a trained person.
But what is happening now ....old bedsheets and all the above ... will *raise* infections.
If you ponder germ spreading pathw
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Asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic people are infectious, so the more people wearing masks the better.
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It's bullshit worthy of r/iamverysmart/
People who haven't bothered to read and understand any of the papers on the topic get to feel smug and self-righteous by telling everyone else how ineffective various face coverings are, even though what they're actually spreading is dangerous misinformation.
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Easy (Score:2)
Touch ID for everyone!
p.s.: I don't get why everyone is obsessed with things like FaceID.
Re: Easy (Score:2)
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The just-released iPhone SE2 only has TouchID. No stupid notch, no FaceID.
Maybe the next no-FaceID iPhone, if any, could have TouchID integrated in a side button or under the screen.
no notch (Score:2)
No Notch maybe...but those bezels it's like 2016 all over again liberally.
Re: no notch (Score:2)
And why is that "bad"?
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It's literally the same "huge" bezels the iPhone 8 had. For people coming from an iPhone 7 or below, which is the primary target, this means the iPhone SE2 is more or less the same design they were already using.
Only a tiny percentage of morons want "change for the sake of change". And at some point, changes cannot be made otherwise they're not going to be smartphones anymore. That's why most modern smartphones are flat rectangles.
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What if Apple goes with under-the-display touchID? Or side button touchID?
You should have said "there won't be another iPhone with a home button after this one".
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"Touch ID for everyone!"
Which doesn't work if you are wearing latex or nitrile gloves.
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Pre-COVID-19, I would have said "this sounds like a category on pornHub".
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Now I like my old 7 Plus even more (Score:2)
My thumb still works.
Re: Now I like my old 7 Plus even more (Score:2)
And so does mine!
And his!
Oh, look! We're all nospam007!
Aaah... Isn't biometrics... great?
and will they add the jump to FBI login if it see (Score:2)
and will they add the jump to FBI login if it see govment QR code?
Apple Pay (Score:2)
Nobody seems to be mentioning how unhygienic Apple pay is. Putting other people's germs on your face ewww.
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What... what are you doing with your phone when you use Apple Pay?
Wait, do I actually want to know?
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You realise you're not supposed to rub your phone on someone else to transfer them money, right?
Not a problem (Score:2)
The problem is eliminated if you don't lock your phone. I don't understand why people would use their phone to access anything that needs to be secured.
Re: Not a problem (Score:1)
Given an actually properly designed pocket computer, please do elaborate regarding the justification for your smug and presumably knee-jerk ignorant statement there.
FaceID was never a "a great idea" (Score:2)
That's preposterous!
It's biometrics! Nothing more should have to be said!
It works jankily, at best!
I mean how much more than "Son unlocked phone of mother by holding it in front of bis face" do you need?
Are you on drugs?
Danger, Wil Robinson ... (Score:2)
First reaction (Score:2)
They figured out that the biometric crap doesn't work and switch back to pincodes?
Not very helpful article. (Score:2)
What happens in iOS 13.5 if you wear a mask: You try to unlock the phone with FaceID. The phone recognises immediately that you are wearing a mask, and shows the pasccode screen immediately.
Smart, Very Smart (Score:2)
Good idea ... IF you're going to have (and presumably use and enjoy) facial recognition as a form of personal identification and security.
I smile as I watch my grandson having to remove gloves to use his phone's fingerprint ID. That may be more secure than a PIN or passcode, but I'd hardly consider it worth the time, energy, technology necessary to make it work.
I don't own any sort of smart or advanced cellphone (gasp!), so what do I know?
my reaction (Score:1)