When Apple launched the iPhone X last week, the firm highlighted many of the key new features, including facial recognition capabilities, called Face ID.
While Apple is optimistic about the feature, many people have raised concerns about its safety.
For instance, some have said it could be used by thieves to unlock your phone just by holding it up to your face.
Now, in a new interview, Craig Federighi, Apple’s software engineering chief has reassured users that they can easily disable the feature, should they be concerned about it.
Mr Federighi even went so far as to say that people will soon not be able to live without the feature.
It comes as Apple updates it App Store Review Guidelines to include a variety of changes, including apps being forced to offer an ‘alternate authentication method’ to FaceID for children under 13
In a new interview, Craig Federighi, Apple’s software engineering chief (pictured) has reassured users that they can easily disable Face ID, should they be concerned about it
Mr Federighi made the comments while speaking on John Gruber’s Talk Show, assuring users that their worries about Face ID will soon ‘melt away.’
He said: ‘You don’t even think about it, it just works.’
He reminded viewers that similar concerns had been raised when Apple revealed Touch ID on the iPhone 5S in 2013.
He said: ‘Honestly, we’re just all counting the days that customers can finally get their hands on these.
‘Because I think just like with Touch ID, initially people thought oh, ‘Apple’s done something that’s totally not going to work and I’m not a believer and I’m not gonna use this feature.’
‘Now everyone’s worried because they can’t imagine life without Touch ID and we’re going to see exactly the same thing with Face ID.’
Mr Federighi also confirmed that Face ID will feature in future Apple devices.
He said: ‘This is how we as people work at authenticating each other, we identify each other, it’s the most natural thing in the world and now you interact.
To unlock the new phone, users can use facial recognition, which Apple calls Face ID. The Face ID will learn your face, so every time you glance at the iPhone, it detects your face – even in the dark
‘And so we find, we’re all wired for that interaction to work really well and it’s extremely natural with our devices and the levels of accuracy, the level of security we’re able to achieve with it are pretty extraordinary.
‘So, we are really excited about this as the path forward.’
Several people have raised concerns that Face ID could be used by burglars to unlock devices as they steal them.
THE IPHONE X
– $999 (£999 in the UK) price for 64GB version, and $1,149 (£1,149 in the UK) for the 256GB version
– Pronounced the ‘iPhone 10’
– Comes with 64GB and 256GB models
– Pre-orders open October 27, ships November 3
– No home button – swipe up from the bottom to unlock or to go home from an app or to multitask
– ‘Face ID’ that allows users to unlock the phone by looking at it
– Qi and AirPower wireless charging that lets you charge multiple devices at once
Following months of anticipation, Apple has finally unveiled the rumored iPhone X. The $999 (£999) ‘anniversary’ device doesn’t have a home button and features a ‘notch’ at the top
– ‘Screen tap’ unlock
– Edge to edge display with glass on both sides of the device
– Super retina display using OLED technology – highest ever pixel density in an iPhone
– Dual 12 megapixel cameras and dual-optical image stabilisation
– Tuned for augmented reality capabilities
– Portrait lighting that uses machine learning to touch up photos
– A11 bionic chips with six cores, can be 70 per cent faster than the previous A10 chip
But Mr Federighi said that the feature could easily be disabled in such a scenario.
In an interview with TechCrunch, he said: ‘On older phones the sequence was to click 5 times [on the power button], but on newer phones like iPhone 8 and iPhone X, if you grip the side buttons on either side and hold them a little while — we’ll take you to the power down [screen].
‘But that also has the effect of disabling Face ID.
The new iPhone X (centre), is pictured next to the new iPhone 8 (right) and iPhone 8 Plus (left), which were all unveiled at Apple’s event last week
‘So, if you were in a case where the thief was asking to hand over your phone — you can just reach into your pocket, squeeze it, and it will disable Face ID. It will do the same thing on iPhone 8 to disable Touch ID.’
He also reassured that Apple will not gather data from Face ID.
In the interview he said: ‘We do not gather customer data when you enroll in Face ID, it stays on your device, we do not send it to the cloud for training data.’
During Apple’s big event last week, Craig Federighi took to the stage to demonstrate the facial recognition capabilities of the firm’s $999 (£999) iPhone X. But he was left red-faced after FaceID didn’t work on first attempt – instead prompting him to use his passcode
During Apple’s launch event on Tuesday, Mr Federighi took to the stage to demonstrate Face ID, but was left red-faced after the system didn’t work on first attempt – instead prompting him to use his passcode for access.
Last week, Apple has now offered an explanation for this in a statement toYahoo.
A spokesperson for Apple told Yahoo: ‘People were handling the device for the stage demo ahead of time and didn’t realise Face ID was trying to authenticate their face.
‘After failing a number of times, because they weren’t Craig, the iPhone did what it was designed to do, which was to require his passcode.’
Apple last week updated its App Store Review Guidelines for developers.
The new rules make it clear that children under 13 will not be allowed to use the Face ID facial scanning feature in the iPhone X.
The new rule says apps using facial recognition for account authentication must offer an alternate method for users under 13 years old.
Other tweaks to the Guidelines include rules against antivirus apps as well as a ban on ARKit apps, such as technology demos.