One of the most common complaints from new Face ID users is that it doesn’t work properly when you’re wearing sunglasses, although masks are also causing some problems. But do you know why facial recognition doesn’t work with sunglasses?
Facial recognition is based on using a system that serves to identify a person by observing key characteristics, in order to differentiate their facial structure. These capabilities have been brought to smartphones, known as Face ID. With just a glance, it unlocks your phone.
Recently, we have been able to learn that this function, initially planned for the new iPhone 14 that will be launched this September, will not finally be integrated under the screen.
It is worth mentioning that the problem of the mask, so widely used today, and the impossibility of Face ID recognizing our faces, has been resolved, although not all models can enjoy this improvement.
Well, the question arises when we wear sunglasses, it rarely works for us. The problem with all this lies in the tinting of the sunglasses: Face ID sensors can’t sufficiently distinguish your eyes behind them (how big they are also matters). Therefore, if you wear glasses with slightly tinted lenses, it may work.
Now, it is true that you can solve this problem and wear your favorite glasses always, yes, with a small cost regarding security. It’s as simple as accessing Settings and within Face ID, turn off the feature that says “Require attention for Face ID”.
You might also think that creating an alternate skin would be enough and you wouldn’t need to disable that feature, however, we’re sorry to say that it isn’t.
Why does it somehow violate the security of your smartphone? Basically because this extra function is like a second layer of security that refers, as its name suggests, to attention, that is, it verifies that you are looking at the iPhone before unlocking it.
The problem with all of this is that someone could force you to unlock your iPhone by simply lifting it up to your face, even if you close your eyes, or they could even unlock it if you’re asleep.
This depends on you, but the cost may be greater than the advantage you are going to obtain, taking into account that sunglasses are a accessory used very specifically for certain times of the year and especially when you are out and about. Considering that there are a thousand ways to unlock your smartphone, it seems too expensive a cost.
Fortunately, it’s easy to quickly disable Face ID to unlock your iPhone if you know you’re going to be in a situation where this could be a problem.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism