iPhone will Soon Receive Face With Mouth Mask Recognition

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Apple is finalizing an improved version of Face ID. As a result, the facial recognition function of the iPhone will soon also know who you are if you wear a mouth mask.

‘Face ID with a mask’, as the new gadget is called, will be given a permanent place in iOS 15.4, the next update of the mobile operating system for the iPhone. That software is already available to developers and testers of iOS public betas. The release for the general public is likely to follow in late February or early March.

Face-with-mouth mask recognition is more important for iPhone owners than for the average Android user. In addition to facial recognition, the better devices from brands such as Samsung, Huawei and OnePlus also have a fingerprint sensor. A few years ago, Apple thought it was a good idea to swap out their version of it, called Touch ID, for Face ID. That worked great in itself until the corona pandemic hit, and people had to wear mouth masks…

Of course, you can still unlock the iPhone via a pin code in corona times. Unlocking also works almost automatically if you are the lucky wearer of an Apple Watch. But facial recognition remains the easiest way for most users, and with iOS 15.4, this will soon also work if you wear a mouth mask.

“Face ID with a mask” looks more emphatically at the unique facial features around the eyes. As a result, the function does not work when you wear sunglasses, which is no obstacle with the classic Face ID. To use ‘Face ID with a mask’, you need an iPhone 12.