Apple Investigating Face Detection For The Lock Screen

SLIDEtoUNLOCK

With the release of Ice Cream Sandwich on Android Phones, Google released a much-panned face detection scheme to unlock your device. Well, it looks like Apple is looking into doing something similar.

Neil Hughes, AppleInsider:

Evidence of Apple’s interest in having devices identify users with facial recognition technology has repeatedly cropped up. In early 2010, before the iPad was announced, The Wall Street Journal revealed that an early prototype of Apple’s touchscreen tablet would use a forward-facing camera to recognize users’ faces, allowing it to be one device easily shared by the entire family. This week, AppleInsider found another example of Apple’s desire to have iOS devices recognize users in a new patent application entitled “Electronic Device Operation Adjustment Based on Face Detection.” It describes using a forward facing camera on a device to recognize individual users and also track the orientation of their face with respect to the device.

This is pretty interesting. If Apple ever ends up releasing this feature, they better damn well make sure it works fantastically. The last thing we want to read is an article on Consumer Reports about “teh iPhone hax0rs.” There are tons of people gunning for Apple in the media, and it is getting harder and harder to deal with the nonsense PR backlashes around non-scandals. *Cough* Antennagate *Cough*

What do you think? Is Apple bound to implement face-unlocking features in iOS? Let us know by hitting us up on Twitter. Our handle is @macgasm, and we love hearing from our readers.

Source: AppleInsider

Grant is a writer from Delaware. In his spare time, Grant maintains a personal blog, hosts The Weekly Roar, hosts Quadcast, and writes for video games.