Everything we know about how Face ID works and protects your facial data

Apple has said it will share more information on how the new facial recognition system debuting on iPhone X works, and now they’ve made good on that promise.

Apple’s new white paper titled “Face ID Security” and a new support document detail how Face ID works, authenticates, protects your data and strengthens user security.

Face ID vs Touch ID

FaceID isn’t a dumb facial recognition system that checks an RGB image of one’s face against stored images. Instead, it uses Apple’s new TrueDepth camera system based on infrared light and depth sensing technology to accurately map the geometry of your face.

The probability that a random person in the population could unlock your deice with Face ID is approximately one in a million versus one in 50,000 for Touch ID, says Apple.

The document acknowledges that the probability of a false match is different for twins and siblings that look like you as well as among children under the age of 13, because their “distinct facial features may not have fully developed.”

Face ID & security

Here’s how the TrueDepth camera works:

Once it confirms the presence of an attentive face, the TrueDepth camera projects and reads over 30,000 infrared dots to form a depth map of the face along with a 2D infrared image. This data is used to create a sequence of 2D images and depth maps, which are digitally signed and sent to the Secure Enclave.

To counter both digital and physical spoofs, the TrueDepth camera randomizes the sequence of 2D images and depth map captures and projects a device-specific random pattern.

A portion of the A11 Bionic chip’s neural engine—protected within the Secure Enclave—transforms this data into a mathematical representation and compares that representation to the enrolled facial data. This enrolled facial data is itself a mathematical representation of your face captured across a variety of poses.

Summing up, the following Face ID data is saved encrypted in the Secure Enclave:

  • The infrared images of your face captured during enrollment.
  • The mathematical representations of your face calculated during enrollment.
  • The mathematical representations of your face calculated during some unlock attempts if Face ID deems them useful to augment future matching.

This data never leaves the device, it’s not sent to Apple nor is it included in device backups. Facial matching is performed within the Secure Enclave using neural networks trained specifically for that purpose.

Neural networks can be updated

These neural networks used for Face ID may be updated over time.

To avoid a user having to re-enroll to Face ID when these neural network changes are made, iPhone X will be able to automatically run stored enrollment images through the updated neural network.

In addition to being encrypted and protected by the Secure Enclave, these enrollment images are cropped to your face, minimizing the amount of background information.

Face images captured during normal unlock operations aren’t saved, but are instead immediately discarded once the mathematical representation is calculated for comparison to the enrolled Face ID data.

Attention awareness

Rather than constantly scan your surroundings, the TrueDepth camera only looks for your face when you:

  • Wake the phone by raising it or tapping the screen
  • When the phone attempts to authenticate you after tapping an alert on the Lock screen
  • When a supported app requests Face ID authentication.

By default, the phone unlocks when the TrueDepth camera detects a face and Face ID sees that your eyes are open and directed at the device.

You can disable attention awareness at any time to unlock the phone without needing to stare at it. Doing so, however, makes Face ID less secure because someone could unlock your phone while you were asleep.

Face ID overview: Setting up, how it works, security, privacy, spoofing & more

Attention awareness is always disabled when VoiceOver is activated.

Hats, glasses, spoofing & more

Face ID can be used indoors, outdoors and in total darkness and works with:

  • Hats
  • Scarves
  • Glasses
  • Contact lenses
  • Many sunglasses

An additional neural network running on the A11 Bionic chip has been specifically trained to spot and resist spoofing against attempts to unlock the phone with photos or masks.

Natural changes of your face

To improve unlock performance and keep pace with the natural changes of your face and look, Face ID augments its stored mathematical representation over time. Upon every successful unlock, the system uses the newly calculated mathematical representation of your face (“if its quality is sufficient”) for a finite number of additional unlocks before that data is discarded.

Check out what happens after Face ID fails to recognize you but the match quality is still higher than a certain threshold and you immediately follow the failure by entering your passcode:

Face ID takes another capture and augments its enrolled Face ID data with the newly calculated mathematical representation. This new Face ID data is discarded after a finite number of unlocks and if you stop matching against it.

Apple says that this lets the facial recognition system keep up with “dramatic changes in your facial hair or makeup use” while minimizing false acceptance.

Face ID & passcodes

Like with Touch ID, your passcode is still required under these circumstances:

  • The device has just been turned on or restarted.
  • The device hasn’t been unlocked for more than 48 hours.
  • The passcode hasn’t been used to unlock the device in the last 156 hours (six and a half days) and Face ID has not unlocked the device in the last four hours.
  • The device has received a remote lock command.
  • After five unsuccessful attempts to match a face.
  • After initiating power off/Emergency SOS by pressing and holding either Volume button and the Side button simultaneously for two seconds.

Rather than replace your passcode, Face ID provides easy access to iPhone X “within thoughtful boundaries and time constraints,” in Apple’s own words.

TUTORIAL: How to make your iOS device more secure with a 6-digit passcode

According to the company, having a passcode is very important “because a strong passcode forms the foundation of your iOS device’s cryptographic protection.”

From a security and technology standpoint,  the underlying process of unlocking your device with Face ID vs. the passcode is exactly the same as that for Touch ID (which you can find more about in Apple’s white paper titled “iOS Security Document”).

Face ID & third-party apps

If an app supports Touch ID, it automatically works with Face ID without requiring an update.

Like with Touch ID, apps are simply notified if the authentication was successful. For added security, apps can verify that a passcode has been set by the user before requiring Face ID or a passcode to unlock items—again, just like with Touch ID.

Apps can also:

  • Require that authentication API operations don’t fall back to an app password or the device passcode. They can query whether a face is enrolled, allowing Face ID to be used as a second factor in security-sensitive apps.
  • Generate and use ECC keys inside Secure Enclave that can be protected by Face ID. Operations with these keys are always performed inside the Secure Enclave after the Secure Enclave authorizes their use.

Apps cannot access Face ID or the data associated with the enrolled face.

Face ID & Apple Pay

Aside from unlocking the device, you can also use Face ID to:

  • Make secure purchases in stores apps and on the web with Apple Pay
  • Authorize purchases from iTunes Stores, App Streaming and iBooks Store
  • Unlock apps that already work with Touch ID

With iOS 11 and later, Face ID-protected Secure Enclave ECC keys are used to authorize a purchase by signing the store request.

Authorizing Apple Pay purchases with a look goes as follows:

  • Double-click the Side button to confirm intent
  • Authenticate using Face ID
  • Place your iPhone X near the contactless payment reader

“If you’d like to select a different Apple Pay payment method after Face ID authentication, you’ll need to reauthenticate, but you won’t have to double-click the Side button again,” reads the document. If an Apple Pay transaction is not completed within 30 seconds of double-clicking the Side button, you must reconfirm intent to pay by double-clicking again.

Face ID & diagnostics data

The only case your facial data leaves the phone is when you specifically agree to provide Face ID diagnostic data to AppleCare for support purposes.

This can only happen at your request.

Apple states:

  • Enabling Face ID Diagnostics requires a digitally signed authorization from Apple that’s similar to the one used in the software update personalization process
  • After authorization, you’ll be able to activate Face ID Diagnostics and begin the setup process from within the Settings app of your iPhone X.

Here’s how setting up Face ID Diagnostics works:

Your existing Face ID enrollment will be deleted and you’ll be asked to re-enroll in Face ID. Your iPhone X will begin recording Face ID images captured during authentication attempts for the next seven days. iPhone X will automatically stop saving images thereafter.

Face ID Diagnostics doesn’t automatically send data to Apple. You can review and approve Face ID Diagnostics data—including enrollment and unlock images (both failed and successful) that are gathered while in diagnostics mode— before it’s sent to Apple.

Only the Face ID Diagnostics images you have approved get uploaded while those you reject are immediately deleted. Diagnostics data is end-to-end encrypted and immediately deleted from the device after the upload completes.

If you don’t conclude the Face ID Diagnostics session by reviewing images and uploading any approved images, Face ID Diagnostics will automatically end after 90 days and all diagnostic images will be deleted from the phone.

To be sure, you can disable Face ID Diagnostics at any time which will immediately delete all local images and stop any sharing of Face ID data with Apple.

Questions?

And that’s how Face ID works.

You now hopefully have a much better understanding of Apple’s facial recognition on iPhone X, why it’s more secure than Touch ID, how your data is protected and why banks trust it enough to support authorizing Apple Pay transactions with Face ID.

If you have any questions, please post them down in the comments.