A Pixel 8 Pro owner found that someone else could unlock their phone using facial recognition. And this even if the person in question doesn’t look too much like him.
With its Pixel 8, Google has improved every aspect of previous models. Screen, camera, autonomy… Even the software elements were entitled to a higher version. Among her, the facial recognition. This system which allows unlock the smartphone using your face was reintroduced at Google in the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. On the 8th generation, the functionality meets the conditions to be classified 3, the highest score of Android standards regarding biometrics.
The distinction is important since it allows facial recognition to be used for validate payments And check connection to an application. Impossible on the Pixel 7. With that, we imagine that the function is robust. However, a user posted on the community social network Reddit a whole different story. MotorTransportation8 says that after configuring facial recognition on his Pixel 8 Pro, his brother grabbed it to look at something and then the mobile unlocked. Surprised, he tries again: it works every time.
Someone unlocked someone else’s Pixel 8 Pro via facial recognition despite few similarities
MotorTransportation8 then records his face on the Pixel 7 Pro of his brother, and the latter cannot unlock it. The problem therefore seems specific to the 8 Pro. He clarifies that, although brothers, the two are not really alike, although this remains subjective. Requested for a test, their father cannot access the mobile with his face. No other unlocking system was configured in parallel, as the Smart Lockwhich could have explained the phenomenon.
As the testimony seems for the moment not to have been followed by others of the same ilk, there is no point in worrying too much. Let us also remember thatclass 3 facial recognition is not infallible. By definition, this means that it has less than 7% chance of working with a 3D copy of the recorded faceAnd 1 in 50,000 chance that someone else, no matter who, will unlock the device. The risk is low, but it exists.
Source: Reddit