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Sibling with a passing resemblance might be able to face-unlock your Pixel 8 Pro

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By Anam Hamid

Updated: Oct 13, 2023, 10:22 AM

Sibling with a passing resemblance might be able to face-unlock your Pixel 8 Pro

Despite not having dedicated hardware for the functionality, Google's new Pixel 8 and 8 Pro have a face unlock system reliable enough to be used for high-stakes stuff and not just unlocking your phone. But as one guy found out, the system is not that secure.

MotorTransportation8 wrote on Reddit that his brother who shares some of their features but is not an identical twin and looks very different than them was able to use face unlock to get into their Pixel 8 Pro.

After I set up my 8 pro today and got home my brother (who I bought the pixel 7 pro for last year) picked up my phone to look at it and he can unlock it every time with his face (my face works perfectly fine as well) i think we have some of the same facial features but we both look very different

It isn't clear how Google decides what's a good match for face models stored on a phone because MotorTransportation8 says their father, who they think bears a stronger resemblance to them than their brother does, was not able to unlock their phone.

...after it unlocked for my brother i tried with my dad who i feel look more similar to and it didn't work but i guess google thinks me and my brother are twins.

Regardless, it's kind of disturbing to find out that the Pixel 8 Pro can be broken into by someone who doesn't even exactly look like you. This is due to the facet that this year's Face Unlock system has been certified by Google as meeting the criteria for the highest Android biometric class.

In contrast, the Pixel 7 had a weaker system and thus, Google didn't let you do anything other than unlocking the phone with it.

Unlike the iPhone's Face ID and Pixel 4's Face Unlock system that creates a depth map of the user's face, Pixel 8 has no such hardware. And yet, Google says it's reliable enough to be used for banking and payment apps.

This means that once MotorTransportation8's brother unlocks their phone, he can do everything from using it for payments and accessing password managers. But MotorTransportation8 cannot get even with him by doing the same to him.

That's because firstly, their brother has a Pixel 7 Pro which requires you to use the fingerprint scanner for payments. And secondly, it turns out, at least in MotorTransportation8's case, the Pixel 7 Pro has a better face unlock system than the Pixel 8 Pro.

Just to make sure I wasn't going insane I set up my face on his p7p and it would not let him unlock it until he retrained it to his faceI just find it funny that they say now the more secure unlock feature will let him into my bank account no problems but his p7p wouldn't even let him get past the lock screen

While the incident surely sounds alarming, we haven't heard other stories of the Pixel 8's face unlock system being bypassed by someone so far. Furthermore, Google already says that phones can be unlocked by someone who looks a lot like you.

Also, face unlock systems, including Apple's Face ID, are not foolproof, with Apple claiming the probability of an unauthorized person fooling its system is one in a million.

Whether the chances of the Pixel 8's face unlock system getting tricked by someone are similarly low is not known. The Pixel 8's face unlock system only uses the front-facing camera and machine learning to verify a user.

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Anam Hamid is a computer scientist turned tech journalist who has a keen interest in the tech world, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. She has previously written for Android Headlines and has also been a ghostwriter for several tech and car publications. Anam is not a tech hoarder and believes in using her gadgets for as long as possible. She is concerned about smartphone addiction and its impact on future generations, but she also appreciates the convenience that phones have brought into our lives. Anam is excited about technological advancements like folding screens and under-display sensors, and she often wonders about the future of technology. She values the overall experience of a device more than its individual specs and admires companies that deliver durable, high-quality products. In her free time, Anam enjoys reading, scrolling through Reddit and Instagram, and occasionally refreshing her programming skills through tutorials.

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