Login with face recognition in Mac

I beg to differ, having designed computers for many years. All you need is a camera that has a data path to the main processor (CPU) and you can use facial recognition software to unlock a Macbook. PCs have been doing this for years without anything more. Given Macbook can support video conferencing/FaceTime, then all the hardware ingredients already exist inside a Macbook. At this point, it is just a matter of having the right software running on the Intel processor. And, I guarantee that the Intel Skylake/Kaby Lake processor has more horsepower to run facial recognition software than the A11 processor that is in the iPhone X...by perhaps an order of magnitude more powerful.

Actually, the Mac does not have hardware sophisticated enough reliably recognize a face, and distinguish it from a photo of a face. The face recognition on some Android phones fails in this scenario. The iPhone X scans the face using infrared emitters to measure the face in 3 dimensions rather than 2. It cannot be fooled by a photograph. While future Macs may have the added hardware required, they currently do not. This information is in the link that Idris provided, which you apparently did not read before responding.

No more or less seriously than the server designs I do that get used for financial transactions on the other end of the internet from those Apple Macs. (If you use PayPal for example, then your transactions were probably done with a server I designed.) You are conflating (trusted) platform security, which has also been around for years, with the ability for a processing element within the Mac to be able to look at an image and distinguish features. They are two polar opposite things. The Mac, or any computer, that already hold passwords, uses encryption to talk to other networked devices, conducts financial transactions, etc. already has trusted platform hardware. Otherwise, it would be considered non-secure. So, if your Mac can track your identity and unlock your Apple Pay, for example, I guarantee you that it has more than sufficient trusted platform security in the form of hardware and software. And, I doubt Apple would want anyone suggesting that it’s current platforms are lacking this. Facial recognition, on the other hand, is nothing more than software running on a processing element to evaluate the image it receives from the camera, compares it to the image that a trusted platform can secure in its memory and either unlocks the system or not. The two interact, but they are seperate subsystems...in ANY computer design. I would contend that the Mac has all the hardware ingredients necessary to enable facial recognition unlock of its Macs: camera, data path to Intel CPU, more than enough horsepower in that Intel CPU (no need for an ASIC or FPGA accelerator) and, yes, trusted platform hardware that is already in place to support touchID, passwords, wallet (card) storage, etc.

I don't think you understand how seriously Apple takes security. The hardware involved in FaceID includes the Secure Enclave which encrypts the reference data. Perhaps this article will help:

https://images.apple.com/business/docs/FaceID_Security_Guide.pdf

jms4001 wrote:

However, I’m betting that those secure memory elements as a part of trusted platform are built into Macs even prior to TouchID.

I see no reason to think that's the case. Why would Apple things that don't get used? You keep insisting that the hardware "must" be there. I see no evidence of that.

I get that you want FaceID on your Mac. However, I consider it highly unlikely that Apple will ever offer it on current hardware. But, submit your feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

Quoting from the posted link:

The TrueDepth camera automatically looks for your face when you wake

iPhone X by raising it or tapping the screen, as well as when iPhone X attempts

to authenticate you to display an incoming notification or when a supported app

requests Face ID authentication. When a face is detected, Face ID confirms

attention and intent to unlock by detecting that your eyes are open and directed

at your device; for accessibility, this is disabled when VoiceOver is activated or

can be disabled separately,

if required.

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.

Thus, in order for FaceID to work, a Mac would need to project those 30,000 infrared dots. As there is no infrared light source in any current MacBooks the technology behind FaceID is not supported by the hardware.

OK, IdrisSeabright, we actually have reached some agreement. TouchID would clearly have ”secure enclave support“ (aka trusted platform secure storage/memory for the rest of us computer engineers). However, I’m betting that those secure memory elements as a part of trusted platform are built into Macs even prior to TouchID. Apple may not call it ”Secure Enclave,” but any computer built even in the last decade has very very likely been built with this trusted platform (storage) capability...especially since certain Fed gov’t agencies requires this built into every device. Laptops started using TPM over 10 years ago. There is no other industry h/w standard since Intel and their CPU sol’ns support TPM. Anything that a vendor does to ensure secure marriage between software execution, secure storage or secure communications would use TPM and its memory. That’s your hardware. If you want to claim that Apple doesnt have all the software pieces in place to support FaceID and pushing the CPU for accurate detection/matching, then I’ll buy that. But I’ll bet the hardware is there...and you don’t need anything other than video and evaluation of the facial image, including shadows, to get a clear facial match. This is already done all over the place in camera security applications.

I honestly don’t care if/when Apple rolls out ”FaceID” or whatever great-sounding name it will be called. My Apple Watch unlocks my Mac just fine. What really bugs me is when someone, who clearly doesnt know what they are talking about, answers a reasonable question with a response that makes it sound like Apple is or has to invent some technology that folds space and time...as well as solves world hunger...when the reality is that all the h/w components are available off the shelf and are likely already in their products.

What bugs me is someone who ignores the fact that FaceID, to be secure, must make 3D measurements, as it does on the iPhone X. And that there is currently no Mac that has the hardware to do that.

Or that if it wasn't necessary to do that to get a secure image, the iPhone X wouldn't have to go to the trouble of adding an infrared scanner.

Or that other phones that have facial recognition can be fooled with photos.

If an Android phone can do it, why can't Apple. I mean, an Android phone is less secure. Can't Apple just make a trust agent system in their next system release? Or just add a way to unlock your Mac with a face? If they can't, why can't they make a Smart Lock styled unlock. Like unlock with password, keep unlocked with face and learn your face more as you use your mac. Also it would be great if phone unlock and voice unlock existed.

cyberflame wrote:

If an Android phone can do it, why can't Apple. I mean, an Android phone is less secure. Can't Apple just make a trust agent system in their next system release? Or just add a way to unlock your Mac with a face? If they can't, why can't they make a Smart Lock styled unlock. Like unlock with password, keep unlocked with face and learn your face more as you use your mac. Also it would be great if phone unlock and voice unlock existed.

I answered your questions two posts above yours. Please read my post if you want to know why a current Mac can't do it, and why Android phones can be fooled with a photo - but not an iPhone X.

Your Mac doesn't have the hardware for face recognition. (You need more than a camera for that.)

I use my Applewatch to login to my MBP. It's fantastic.

Submit your feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

cyberflame wrote:

If an Android phone can do it, why can't Apple.

I'm sure they could if they wanted to. But they haven't yet.

Let them know what you'd like to see here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Hi,

The closest you can come to that is to get a MacBook Pro with Touch ID which will allow you to boot/login to it by touching your finger to the Touch ID button.