It’s 2019, and you can still unlock the latest phone from Samsung with a photo that proves how insecure facial recognition is on the ‘Galaxy S10’ and other phones. Face Unlock feature has been there since Android 4.0, however, it didn’t get much recognition until Apple ‘reinvented’ it with its iPhone X device. Since the iPhone X release, every phone released comes with this feature. However It is essentially unsafe to unlock your phone through facial recognition, and Android has always made it a point to let users know about it.
Last year, the OnePlus 6 device was vulnerable to a similar problem, where the phone could be opened through a printed version of the users face. The newly released Samsung Galaxy S10 seems to be vulnerable to similar issues.
As demonstrated in the video, it’s not possible for the Galaxy S10 to tell, it looks at an image rather than a person. As a result, when the owner’s photo is placed in front of the selfie camera, it unlocks the phone.
Previously, Samsung phones utilised a hybrid between IRIS scanning and facial recognition for their devices.it was both unstable and slow which forced Samsung to get Galaxy S10 its own ‘Face Unlock’. This feature was, is and will continue to be a security vulnerability in the future, however, it is the most demanded features that sell on a phone currently. I have to applause Apple for implementing the safest version of the “Face Unlock” feature, and I hope that other OEMs will follow.