3D Facial Recognition and the Future of Security and AR

Touch ID, Apple’s fingerprint biometric security, has become the standard for logging into your device and protected apps.  We have all become used to the “extra” step of holding your thumb or finger to the device’s sensor, and opening your device securely.  But next month, Touch ID will start to become a thing of the past.  With the unveiling last month of the tenth anniversary iPhone, the iPhone X (and X is pronounced Ten), Touch ID is no more on the tech leader’s flagship, and our new biometric security trend has become a reality: 3D Facial Recognition.

Apple’s new biometric standard for Facial Recognition is aptly named Face ID, and it is most definitely the future.  Utilizing Apple’s new TrueDepth front-mounted camera system, the new iPhone X will unlock your phone and your secured apps utilizing your face as your new “fingerprint.” How does it do this securely, and more importantly, how does it prevent someone from using a photo of the user to unlock the device? Its all in the name, TrueDepth.

The new fantastic TrueDepth camera utilizes millions of micro IR dots to identify your face, but more importantly, rendering a 3D model of your face to detect its a person and not a photo.  It also detects eye, mouth, and nose micro movements to detect you are a living person also, and not a corpse.  The new iPhone can now be woken up with just a touch, and then the microsecond scan of your face will unlock the phone and you are ready to rock.

The new TrueDepth system offers a plethora of goodies to iPhone users beyond unlocking your phone, it can also detect your presence even in the dark or with most sunglasses, and it won’t show you your notifications on the lock screen unless it scans your face successfully.  This is huge if you have a snooping partner or coworkers.  The camera is a giant leap forward for more than just security, it also makes Augmented Reality a much more tangible technology.  The 3D mapping system can literally be utilized down the road to put you directly into a game, and this face-scanning tech is already being demoed by Apple with their new Animojis.  This fun feature will put your face and facial movements on some of your favorite emojis like the ever-popular Poomoji. I can only imagine how many disgruntled employees will be quitting their jobs with a 3D rendered poo-styled version of their face.

The new Face ID system is literally replacing Touch ID on the new phone, and all apps that can utilize the Touch ID system will be able to quickly transfer their current biometric security to the new system.  Convenient, because as fast as Touch ID is, the new Face ID is even faster, and involves no interaction from the user other than looking at their screen (which Americans do 99% of the day anyway).

With augmented reality now the big buzz in tech, Apple is not only knocking on the door, they are breaking down the door.  Face ID and the new TrueDepth camera system are the future of security and AR, and the iPhone X is now our gateway drug.  October 27th is gonna be a nightmare for Apple and the carrier’s servers, because the iPhone X is going to be the biggest iPhone of all-time.  Let the excitement begin.