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We got a friends phone to unlock with her sisters face, but it required the phone to fail, enter correct passcode, fail, enter correct passcode. After two faile

by neom 9y ago

We got a friends phone to unlock with her sisters face, but it required the phone to fail, enter correct passcode, fail, enter correct passcode. After two failed attempts (consistently, and after retraining) the iPhone had added enough of her sisters face that her sister could unlock it. I wish these unlock articles would state if the phone was "trained" to learn the new face.

Someone1234 9y ago
I get a little annoyed with this defense. Automatic re-train is a "feature" you cannot turn off, cannot turn on, have no visual feedback that it occurs, and ultimately weakens the security of your device. If this is what is causing Face Unlock to fail then that's still just as much Apple's responsibility than any other methodology. You also have no way to knowing how much re-train has occurred since Apple doesn't provide that information.
- lotsofpulp 9y ago
  Looks like you can disable FaceID pretty easily: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208108 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208108 To disable Face ID, open Settings > Face ID & Passcode, and tap Reset Face ID. Doing so will delete Face ID data, including mathematical representations of your face, from your device. If you choose to erase or reset your device using Find My iPhone or erasing all content and settings, all Face ID data will be deleted.
  - yummy 9y ago
    Hello, Apple Support
  - tonmoy 9y ago
    I think the GP was referring to turning off the auto train on faces when entering the correct passcode feature
    - mikeash 9y ago
      You can easily “turn it off” by not giving other people your passcode.
      - nikanj 9y ago
        Scenario: I'm driving, my wife tells me I got a text. I tell her my passcode, so she can read it for me. iPhone considers this an opportunity to train the face recognition to recognize "me" better. It doesn't bother me that she can unlock my phone, but I bet the facial model my phone has for "my" features is a weird hybrid.
        mikeash 9y ago
        So, don’t do that? Systems don’t have to support every conceivable use case.
        ceejayoz 9y ago
        That's a cop-out. This is an extremely common use case.
        mikeash 9y ago
        Really? First I’ve heard of it.
        johanj 9y ago
        Really? It’s been discussed a lot on various podcasts, on Twitter and I’ve heard multiple people IRL talk about that use case and the slightly annoyance it is with the iPhone X. It is pretty common for spouses to have a finger added on their spouse’s phone for unlocking it with Touch ID, e.g., when you’re driving and get a message, you can give it to your spouse who can reply. Many parents also have a finger added on their young children’s phones. None if these scenarios are really possible with Face ID, because you’ll end up training Face ID with two faces. And while phones are usually used by only a single person, it is not an uncommon scenario to have a secondary user.
- babygoat 9y ago
  I get a little annoyed with this "everything should work perfectly exactly the way I want it to" expectation. If you give your passcode to someone with extremely similar facial features, you should expect that they'll be able to unlock your phone.
  - Someone1234 9y ago
    And if you change your pass-code is the retrain data dropped or retained? This is an important piece of the puzzle and one Apple doesn't tell you.
    - JimDabell 9y ago
      If you want to drop the retrain data, go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Reset Face ID.
LinaLauneBaer 9y ago
Couldn't Apple fix this by only using data from 100% successful unlock attempts, meaning: If you unlock your phone without having to enter your passcode the data is used to train the model. If you had to enter the passcode - for any reason - the data is not used to train the model. This would certainly make some edge cases (for example if you didn't use your phone for a while => changed facial features) less "magic" because you would always have to enter the passcode - but a simple "retrain" should then solve the problem... am I correct?

by neom 9y ago

Someone1234 9y ago

I get a little annoyed with this defense. Automatic re-train is a "feature" you cannot turn off, cannot turn on, have no visual feedback that it occurs, and ultimately weakens the security of your device. If this is what is causing Face Unlock to fail then that's still just as much Apple's responsibility than any other methodology. You also have no way to knowing how much re-train has occurred since Apple doesn't provide that information.

lotsofpulp 9y ago
Looks like you can disable FaceID pretty easily: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208108 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208108 To disable Face ID, open Settings > Face ID & Passcode, and tap Reset Face ID. Doing so will delete Face ID data, including mathematical representations of your face, from your device. If you choose to erase or reset your device using Find My iPhone or erasing all content and settings, all Face ID data will be deleted.
- yummy 9y ago
  Hello, Apple Support
- tonmoy 9y ago
  I think the GP was referring to turning off the auto train on faces when entering the correct passcode feature
  - mikeash 9y ago
    You can easily “turn it off” by not giving other people your passcode.
    - nikanj 9y ago
      Scenario: I'm driving, my wife tells me I got a text. I tell her my passcode, so she can read it for me. iPhone considers this an opportunity to train the face recognition to recognize "me" better. It doesn't bother me that she can unlock my phone, but I bet the facial model my phone has for "my" features is a weird hybrid.
      - mikeash 9y ago
        So, don’t do that? Systems don’t have to support every conceivable use case.
        ceejayoz 9y ago
        That's a cop-out. This is an extremely common use case.
        mikeash 9y ago
        Really? First I’ve heard of it.
        johanj 9y ago
        Really? It’s been discussed a lot on various podcasts, on Twitter and I’ve heard multiple people IRL talk about that use case and the slightly annoyance it is with the iPhone X. It is pretty common for spouses to have a finger added on their spouse’s phone for unlocking it with Touch ID, e.g., when you’re driving and get a message, you can give it to your spouse who can reply. Many parents also have a finger added on their young children’s phones. None if these scenarios are really possible with Face ID, because you’ll end up training Face ID with two faces. And while phones are usually used by only a single person, it is not an uncommon scenario to have a secondary user.
babygoat 9y ago
I get a little annoyed with this "everything should work perfectly exactly the way I want it to" expectation. If you give your passcode to someone with extremely similar facial features, you should expect that they'll be able to unlock your phone.
- Someone1234 9y ago
  And if you change your pass-code is the retrain data dropped or retained? This is an important piece of the puzzle and one Apple doesn't tell you.
  - JimDabell 9y ago
    If you want to drop the retrain data, go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Reset Face ID.

LinaLauneBaer 9y ago

Couldn't Apple fix this by only using data from 100% successful unlock attempts, meaning: If you unlock your phone without having to enter your passcode the data is used to train the model. If you had to enter the passcode - for any reason - the data is not used to train the model. This would certainly make some edge cases (for example if you didn't use your phone for a while => changed facial features) less "magic" because you would always have to enter the passcode - but a simple "retrain" should then solve the problem... am I correct?