Android

Face Unlock becomes smarter in Jelly Bean: asks you to blink for the camera

posted by Victor H. / Jul 02, 2012, 2:52 AM

Face Unlock becomes smarter in Jelly Bean: asks you to blink for the camera

Face Unlock was one of the coolest new features in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but while having your phone recognize your face sounds like a fun (it is) way to access your device, it definitely isn’t among the most secure ones.

Why? Well, you can easily trick the phone into thinking it’s seeing your face when you’re actually showing it a picture of yourself. With Jelly Bean things have improved as Google has now added a feature it calls “Liveness check” that basically asks you to blink in a certain moment and only then unlocks the phone. Now, that’s something a photograph can’t do and definitely an elegant solution making it harder to crack the mechanism.

Is it still possible to trick Face Unlock, though? Certainly. All it takes is a bit of tech savvy to craft an animation out of still photos with you with open and closed eyes, and then play it to your phone’s camera from another display. But still, that’s much harder than just showing a picture, isn’t it?

Anyway, we’d only use Face Unlock for the fun and coolness of it, not for real safety, and we’d advise you to do the same.

source: Droid-life

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29 Comments

1. dickwyn

Posts: 621; Member since: May 07, 2012

Answering a call is just a blink away

posted on Jul 02, 2012, 3:05 AM 10

2. script_writer

Posts: 56; Member since: Jun 27, 2012

what if your blind? and or cant open your eyes? what you wear an eye patch?

posted on Jul 02, 2012, 3:39 AM 0

3. Wiki_jaan

Posts: 704; Member since: Jun 24, 2012

lol! than buy Nokia 3310

posted on Jul 02, 2012, 3:49 AM 4

8. ilia1986 unregistered

Then you don't have to use this feature. Freedom - you decide what to use, and what not. A radical concept these days of the iOS plague, I know.

posted on Jul 02, 2012, 6:23 AM 4

11. script_writer

also what if your a tv/film actor/extra and your appearance changes through out the day

posted on Jul 02, 2012, 6:37 AM 0

16. plgladio

Posts: 314; Member since: Dec 05, 2011

Use the pass word to unlock. Anyways there will be a option to skip it.

posted on Jul 02, 2012, 7:13 AM 0

20. OptimusOne

Posts: 694; Member since: May 22, 2012

hmmmm faceunlock is optional

posted on Jul 02, 2012, 7:28 AM 0

4. longhairbilly

Posts: 66; Member since: Aug 23, 2010

I was actually impressed with face to unlock. It worked way better then I though it would. That said, I had to stop using it, I work outside and wear sunglasses all day. Face unlock does not work well with sunglasses and I imagine it will not work at all now being it won't be able to see my eyes blinking.

posted on Jul 02, 2012, 4:52 AM 2

6. Wiki_jaan

lol! u dont even want to remove glasses for only 10 seconds.

posted on Jul 02, 2012, 5:54 AM 2

26. fraydoe

Posts: 57; Member since: Dec 27, 2011

they should instead have you rotate the phone around your head or something that requires 3d authentication. because its still pretty easy to bypass whether its animated digitally or whether i just take a pic and some construction paper. nevertheless it's still really cool! i think i can see the new iphone .... *NEW , iUnlockByFace!* ONLY on iphone lol