Of all the major biometric authentication technologies, facial recognition is probably more advanced and secure, and it is fairly nonintrusive. This is probably why facial recognition has been adopted successfully across many industries.  On top of it, the technology is easy to integrate and deploy, giving people a sense of relief using a technology that is more secure than PINs or passwords. Conventionally, it was used to authenticate people into sensitive premises and top secret facilities but over time, its application has moved into smartphones. Moreover, weather conditions and cleanliness do not strongly affect the outcomes of facial scans, as it does with fingerprint scanners, which makes facial recognition easier to implement.

Although the facial recognition technology has been around for quite some time now, it has become a mainstream technology in smartphones, especially after Apple released the iPhone X with a new technology called Face ID. This is a remarkable technology and one of the most talked about features of the iPhone X which helps people unlock their phones using their face. However, Apple is not the only one that came up with the idea of facial recognition. Today, most Android phones offer facial recognition capabilities. In fact, facial recognition is now a staple of smartphone security, along with the good old fingerprint scanner and the PIN. But which one’s the better technology – the Apple’s groundbreaking Face ID or the facial recognition in Android phones?

What Is Facial Recognition?

Facial recognition is a biometric software application capable of identifying or verifying a person’s identity based on the person’s facial contours. One of the major advantages of facial recognition over other biometric technologies is that it is fairly nonintrusive, on top of being more advanced and more secure. As opposed to fingerprint scanners, facial recognition is more effective and easier to implement because of one simple fact that weather conditions and cleanliness do not strongly affect the outcome of facial scans as they affect fingerprint scans. Besides being nonintrusive and natural, one big advantage of facial recognition is that it can be captured at a distance and in a covert manner. Apple’s iPhone X is the first phone with advanced facial recognition capabilities with a technology called Face ID.

What is Face ID?

Face ID is the Apple’s groundbreaking facial recognition technology that Apple has incorporated in its flagship iPhone X in 2017. Face ID is the most advanced and reliable biometric technology in phones and iPhone X was the first iPhone to use this feature in a smartphone. With this, we ushered into a new era of advanced biometric authentication in smartphones. The technology was used to unlock the smartphone and also authorize purchases. Apple explained that Face ID was an advanced implementation of hardware and software to come up with a fast yet accurate authentication system. It’s a clever facial authentication scheme that uses the front TrueDepth camera to project over 30,000 dots to create a digital map of the user’s face. A machine learning neural engine would then convert this digital map into a format that could be understood by the processor and stored in the database.

Difference between Facial Recognition and Face ID

Technology

– Face ID is the first step toward the future of computing. Face ID is the most advanced and reliable biometric technology in phones and iPhone X was the first iPhone to use this feature in a smartphone. Face ID is a remarkable technology and one of the most talked about features of the iPhone X which helps people unlock their phones using their face. You can also use Face ID to secure your apps and allows you to authenticate iTunes, the App Store and Apple Pay transactions. However, Apple’s Face ID is not the same as the facial recognition technology used in Android phones.

Working

– Face ID on the iPhone X uses the front “TrueDepth” camera setup to project over 30,000 invisible dots to create a more distinctive and accurate digital map of the user’s face. The infrared camera takes an infrared photo of the face and a machine learning neural engine then helps convert this digital map into a format that could easily be understood by the processor and stored in the database. This clever authenticate scheme not only lets you bypass the lock screen but also allows you to purchase stuff in the iTunes and App Store and through Apple Pay on websites and certain physical locations.

Facial recognition is Android phones, specifically Samsung’s technology, on the other hand, uses an IR LED and Iris camera (infrared camera) to create a 2D map of the user’s face, which is common in all Android phones. They don’t perform so well in poor lighting conditions and it’s not as sophisticated as the Apple’s Face ID.

Facial Recognition vs. Face ID: Comparison Chart

Summary of Facial Recognition vs. Face ID

In a nutshell, the facial recognition technology is not a new technology to us and it has created significant strides since Apple released the flagship iPhone X in 2017 with a groundbreaking biometric technology called Face ID. This technology not allowed users to bypass their lock screen with their face but also let them purchase stuff in the iTunes and App Store and through Apple Pay in certain physical stores and on certain websites. Facial recognition is now a staple of smartphone security, along with the good old fingerprint scanner and the PIN. However, facial recognition in Android phones is not as accurate and sophisticated as the Face ID.

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