Face ID with the mask: why are all iPhones not equal |igeneration

La bonne surprise d'iOS 15.4 a été l'ajout d'une option dans Face ID de reconnaissance des visages portant un masque de protection respiratoire, la mauvaise surprise c'est que les iPhone (et iPad) ayant Face ID n'ont pas tous cette fonction.

This new option - offered after installing iOS 15.4 - is all the more interesting since far from being limited to unlocking the devices, it allows you to use Face ID in the apps and especially for Apple Pay payments.

This is a notable advantage against the iphone and Apple Watch torque that Apple used so far to compensate for the absence of a fingerprint sensor.The Apple Watch shoulder Face ID to authenticate the user but only for the unlocking function, for the rest you have to fall the mask.And as before, according to the sunglasses worn, they will have to be down too, but Apple nevertheless took the opportunity to also improve the functioning of the ID with these accessories.

iOS 15.4: Face ID knows how to authenticate the user with a mask

With iOS 15.4, Apple offers butter and butter money, but you still have to have the right iPhone.Over the installations of this beta, it appeared that only families 12 and 13 of the iPhone showed the option "Use Face ID with a mask". Pour les iPad aussi il y a des absents, c'est proposé sur les générations 2020 et 2021 mais pas sur les modèles 2018 qui ont apporté Face ID à la tablette.

Apple has not yet given any explanation, to the point that this revised and improved ID is not even cited in the version notes of this first beta.But we can issue a hypothesis based on the evolution of the material capabilities of iPhone.

Last year, System Plus Consulting had made an analysis of the components provided to Apple by Stmicroelectronics to make TrueDepth, the collection of sensors in the notch used for Face Id.The study explains that at the time of the iPhone X, Stmicroelectronics had designed for Apple a tailor-made version of its proximity detector and the point projector which finely analyzes the line lines in three dimensions.

With the iPhone 12, System Plus Consulting noted a decrease of 15% of the dimension of this set but also a new spotlight twice as large and much more sophisticated "close to a diffractive optical element" which participates in improving thePrecision of reading the key elements of the face.

The iPhone 12 also marked their difference with the use of a processor containing a more powerful neural engine (16 cores against 8 on the 11 and XS, 2 on X) and still improved with the iPhone 13.Difficult however to say if it is used for this new face ID.

These differences may explain that the iPhone are not all capable of performing this new analysis and recognition of faces, which Apple wanted at the same level of security as during a mask use.This is a point that it is important to underline again, because if Face ID remains unique among smartphones, this evolution further strengthens this status.This can also justify the fact that this option arrives so late, between its material requirements, the need to test it in multiple cases and validate it for all the uses entrusted to face.

Over the beta, and by the final version of iOS 15.4, will the new option be offered to other iPhone?Apple's lack of communication at this very preliminary stage can be seen in an optimistic way but we will be careful not to draw plans on the comet.