Earlier on, Apple stated that abrupt changes to one’s looks, such as beards, scarves, hats and makeup will not disrupt Apple’s new facial recognition system. Now, according to Craig Federighi, Apple’s chief software engineer, Face ID recognition will also work even if you put sunglasses on. Mr. Federighi’s exact words were ”Most sunglasses let through enough IR light that Face ID can see your eyes even when the glasses appear to be opaque”, plus an exclamation about how awesome is that.
Mr. Federighi was also asked if a thief can can take someone’s iPhone X, point it at their face and then run off with an unlocked device. His answer was that this was unlikely due to two factors;. First, one needs to stare directly at the phone in order to unlock it. Unless thief can make you stare at the phone (difficult, seeing how you, the owner of the device, will probably try to take it back and/or kick the thief’s ass), just pushing it into your face will not unlock it. Second, you can temporarily disable the Face ID by gripping the buttons on both sides of the phone – you can do that if you see a possible thief coming in order to secure your device.
Both security measures seem to be solid enough to guarantee your iPhone X’s safety, or at least as much safety as phones were guaranteed before. If you were worried about someone abusing FaceID in order to get to your precious smartphone, worry not – it does not seem likely. Of course, future will put Federighi’s words to a test.