Apple Refunds Chinese Woman Twice Due To Faulty Face ID
In September 2017, Apple took to stage and announced its true successor to the original iPhone of 2007, the iPhone X. Thin bezels, OLED display, vertically placed dual cameras, wireless charging, and no Touch ID. Instead of repositioning Touch ID, Apple decided to drop it altogether and replace it with its rendition of Face ID. Apple claimed that it much more accurate than Touch ID albeit, a bit slower. However, Face ID might not have been implemented with the accuracy that Apple claimed, as a woman China was refunded twice because of faulty Face ID on her iPhone X.
The woman, identified as Yan, told the Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation that despite setting up each phone’s Face ID, her colleague was able to get into both the devices on every attempt. Yan was offered two refunds from Apple after her colleague managed to unlock two separate iPhone X units. Yan said the first time it happened, she called the Apple hotline, but the staff would not believe her. She then had to go to the nearest Apple store, where her colleague used Face ID on the phone to demonstrate the issue to the staff.
An Apple spokesman said that he suspected that both women may have used the phone during its “passcode training” and that the phones may have been essentially “taught” to recognise both the faces.
Ever since it was made available to the public, Face ID has received a mixed response. While the in-app usage of Face ID has been well-received, the process of unlocking the phone has been deemed much slower than Touch ID and even the Face Unlock feature of the OnePlus 5T. However, OnePlus has conceded that its facial recognition software is for mere convenience and not security.
The Face ID Experiment
A month ago, Face ID was bypassed through an elaborate experiment using a 3D printed mask and heavy duty expensive gadgets.
While Face ID has received some criticism, future software updates and Apple’s constant efforts to make its facial recognition system the best in class should improve the performance of Face ID in the coming months.
