These days, using facial recognition to unlock your phone is a pretty common feature. When Google released its Pixel 4 devices last year though, there was a slight error in its biometric software. It didn’t check to see if a person’s eyes were open and so phones could be unlocked by simply pointing it at a person while they were sleeping. Obvious creepiness aside, it’s something which Google vowed to fix and the company has finally delivered on that promise with a new update for the device that was released late yesterday.
The latest phone patch will now check to ensure that a person’s eyes are actually open before the phone is unlocked. This is set on by default, although Google has provided an option to disable it in the face unlock settings should people be having a problem with it. This is a feature which several other devices already offer, along with Apple making sure that a person’s face is directed at their phone and that the face is not just picked up in general.
While facial recognition has evolved over the years, this does show that humans still have a long way to go in designing security features that truly deal with the complexities of the human race and their different behaviours. It’s also why many banks continue to rather do their own security rather than rely on technology like this – at least for the time being.
Alongside this feature, this new Pixel 4 update also corrects issues for dropped Bluetooth audio input while on a call and addresses lag when opening the keyboard for some apps.
Last Updated: April 7, 2020
