iPhone X face ID failed to differentiate between mother and son

There has been so much furor over the iPhone X facial recognition feature. People said, albeit humorously, that girls who use excessive makeup might get into trouble with the Face ID. People thought that compromising Face ID on iPhone X is limited to their evil twin or some ugly 3D-printed mask.

But a new video, featuring a Mom-son duo, shows the facial recognition tech is more vulnerable than it appears.

Uploaded by Attaullah Malik on YouTube, the 41-second clip shows his 10-year-old son unlocking Face ID on an iPhone X which was configured to accept the mother’s face.

While cases like this one might not be that common, it seems family members with similar facial structure could circumvent the privacy of their loved ones by fooling the Face ID tech.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUMH6DVYskc?feature=oembed]

Malik writes in the description of the video that they accidentally discovered the trick when the son was denied access to the newly purchased iPhone X and he glanced over it, “acting exactly as a kid would do.”

In their documentation, Apple says the possibility of a person using their face to unlock a user’s iPhone X is 1:1,000,000. But it would be troublesome if that 1 person is living in the vicinity of the iPhone X user.

However, what we saw in the video should not come as a complete surprise. Apple says that the statistical probability might not be applicable in the case of twins or siblings which have a lot in common regarding facial appearance. The distinct facial features might be underdeveloped in the case of children aged below 13.

Did you manage to beat iPhone X Face ID? If yes, tell us your experience.