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Apple denies Face ID failed during iPhone X keynote

It’s every company’s worst nightmare: you finally make a grand announcement to the world about the imminent launch of your new, much-hyped flagship product, and come the day you demonstrate its marvels to the world, something goes embarrassingly wrong. This is what happened to Craig Federighi during Apple’s launch of the iPhone X on Tuesday, when Face ID seemingly failed to recognise his face!

Speculation about what happened during the iPhone X demo is rife. Some say the password lock failed, while others blame the Face ID application itself. Apple sticks to the former explanation, saying the phone locked itself after a number of people ‘had interacted’ with it before Federighi’s speech.

An Apple representative said: “People were handling the device for stage demo ahead of time, and didn’t realise Face ID was trying to authenticate their face. After failing a number of times, because they weren’t Craig, the iPhone did what it was designed to do, which was to require his passcode.”

With Touch ID the phone locks after five unsuccessful attempts, after which you then have to enter your password. Face ID, however, doesn’t allow more than two unsuccessful attempts before locking the phone. In Apple’s defence it has to be said that a back-up iPhone X unlocked without any issues.



The finer details of Face ID and exactly how reliable it is will only become known in November when the iPhone X makes its debut. Members of the press had an opportunity to play around with the device after the launch, and they gave mixed reviews. While most of them were impressed with the Face ID feature, one or two reported that it failed to work before the screen was turned on and off.

Face ID utilises infrared scanning technology to produce the mathematical equivalent of the user’s face. This is then compared to the facial image stored on the phone before allowing access. According to Apple this feature works even in bad light and when the owner is wearing glasses, a hat, makeup, or a beard.

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About the author

Chris

I've been a passionate evangelist for Apple and the Macintosh throughout my working life, my first love was a Quadra 605 working with a small creative agency in the south of Norfolk UK in the mid 1990's, I later progressed to other roles in other Macintosh dominated industries, first as a Senior graphic designer at a small printing company and then a production manager at Guardian Media Group. As the publishing and printing sector wained I moved into Internet Marketing and in 2006 co-founded blurtit.com which grew to become one the top 200 visited sites in the US (according to Quantcast), at its peak receiving over 15 million visits per month. For the last ten years I have worked as an Affiliate and Consultant to many different business and start ups, my key skill set being online marketing, on page monetisation, landing page optimisation and traffic generation, if you would like to hire me or discuss your current project please reach out to me here.

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  • My friend failed to use the iris scanner to unlock her Samsung S8 when she is wearing the contact lenses. So I highly doubt that whether iPhone X works for girls wearing makeups? That’s plastic surgery.