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Android Ice Cream Sandwich Face Unlock Tricked by Photo (but It's Only a Trick)

18.05.12

Skeptics are claiming he registered the photo in the Galaxy Nexus’ Face Unlock, and not his actual face. He has solidly denied this, and I believe him. Not because of any faith in his honesty, but because I’ve done this same trick with facial recognition before.

During my review of the HP Elitebook 2760p, I put its facial recognition (paired with Bluetooth authentication for security) to the test in a Shortcut video . Testing with a variety of self-portraits already on my iPhone yielded no hits. None of them could unlock the 2760p. But a photo of myself taken on the spot, using the same angle and expression I had registered for facial recognition, unlocked it immediately.

See, current facial recognition technology requires a straight-on view of your face for both registration and recognition. A typical photo of you probably will not fit that parameter (unless you take a lot of mugshots). This is why I previously suggested establishing a “login face” with an expression you don’t normally use (i.e., not smiling like you’re posing for a photo). But it is possible to take a photo of yourself with that expression under those conditions and use that for facial recognition.

Source: Gotta Be Mobile