Face ID in a MacBook would be a dream come true
Why Face ID would be a killer feature for the MacBook
Face ID for Mac is something we have all been waiting for a long time and it could finally happen
Why is Face ID so secure?
By now, you probably know the well-touted authentication system used by Apple on the iPhone and iPad. It works great, is secure and accurate. So a lot of iPhone users have come to love it. I say that because the rivalry between the beloved Touch ID and the new Face ID almost caused a civil war among Apple fans worldwide. The fingerprint is such a reliable tool for identification that your bank, government, and nearly every important document tied to you uses it for verification. But Apple went on stage in September 2017 and said that Face ID was more secure than the fingerprint; that the chances of another person unlocking your phone with their face are one in a million( 0.0001% ) compared to their fingerprint which is one in 50,000 (0.002%) which means that it’s 20 times more secure.
That sounds great! Take the same system and implement it in a MacBook, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. To make Face ID secure, Apple uses what they call the True Depth Camera System, a combination of an IR camera, flood illuminator, dot projector, and the front-facing camera, all of which work in sync to authenticate your phone. The flood illuminator lights up your face; the dot projector shines 30,000 IR dots; the IR camera captures all this and creates a depth map of your face’s structure. With this data, the neural network generates a mathematical model and compares it to the one on your phone. If its a match, congratulations, you are you. If not, well, please don’t try to stalk people. Anyway, these complicated series of instructions carried out by the processor is not something regular processors can do efficiently. That is why Apple built specialized hardware to process the information from the True Depth system.
How does it translate to the MacBook?
In late 2016 Apple launched the first MacBook with support for Touch ID. That was also the birth of the T series chip. Since apple could not integrate Touch ID with Intel’s x86 architecture, they had to fabricate a new chip that focusses on security and Touch ID’s functionality. The latest T2 chip is the reason Touch ID is reliable on the MacBook. But to include the True Depth camera system is a whole another level of processing required. The machine learning algorithms used for Face ID are far more complex and intensive for which the T2 chip might not be enough. That leaves Apple with two options, improve and launch the T3 chip with support for Face ID or build an entirely new custom processor.
Fortunately, we have good news! Apple just announced a shift to its custom silicon, which means that everything could fall in place. With the new processor, Apple has the flexibility to embed hardware similar to the iPhone right into the processor, ensuring that Face ID’s security features remain, plus the convenience of Face ID will finally come to the MacBook.
Can’t you unlock your MacBook with your Apple Watch?
Yes, Apple Watch owners can use Bluetooth to allow the MacBook to unlock when you’re close to it. Although the Apple Watch is the most popular smartwatch, there are quite a few people who own a MacBook but not an Apple Watch. Apart from that, you can’t use the feature if you don’t have the watch with you. So you have to rely on Touch ID or the good old password. Besides, when the goal is convenience, Face ID is the only worthy contender, as well as a replacement, to the Apple Watch’s unlock feature.
So login with Face ID. Is that it?
There’s more! Any iPhone user who has used Face ID will tell you that when they log in on sites on safari or apps downloaded from the App Store, they can use their face to authenticate the auto-login credentials. It’s convenient as well as secure. You can use saved passwords on safari right now on any MacBook, but it’s not entirely safe. Another everyday use of Face ID is to authenticate purchases on the App Store. That is again, something that would make it very convenient on the MacBook.
There have been many times when I have tried to log in on Apple’s websites to complete my music purchase and found it much more convenient to do so on my phone. That is the reason I started researching for this article. I find Face ID almost effortless while still being secure.
Apart form that, there’s a fun element to it as well; Memoji could be available on the Mac.
Earlier this year, Apple joined the FIDO Alliance (FIDO = Fast IDentity Online). It is an initiative to remove the use of passwords and replace them with biometrics, which is much more convenient while also being secure. Using biometrics can help prevent identity theft, a worrisome problem that can destroy people’s lives in some cases. With the use of keystroke data and other spyware, a lot of sensitive information can be stolen.
Hello, Apple is late to the game, again.
Windows Hello is a biometric security feature offered by Windows 10 to a wide variety of desktops and laptops with certain minimum hardware specifications. This system uses complicated cameras that can sense depth using near-infrared imaging. Some devices that ship with fingerprint sensors can provide a more secure experience. Buying a new Windows laptop with a Hello Camera is another way to get the feature. Nevertheless, the technology used by Windows Hello is nowhere near the complexity of Face ID. Anoosh Saboori, senior program manager lead at Microsoft had this to say:
“Windows Hello uses 3D structured light to create a model of someone’s face and then uses anti-spoofing techniques to limit the success of people creating a fake head or mask to spoof the system”.
— Anoosh Saboori
Although there seem to be anti-spoof techniques, to differentiate between human skin and plastic/paper, it is not as multilayered as Face ID. It might not offer the same level of security, even if it does convenience. Not so say that Microsoft or other manufactures can not develop a similar system, but, right now, we have already seen the reliability of Face ID. With the experience Apple has and the opportunities with their custom silicon it would be unwise not to bring Face ID to the MacBook
Conclusion
Face ID has been extremely convenient to use, and its integration was received well by iPhone and iPad users alike. The only group of people remaining is the Mac users, and if we are lucky, we might be getting it soon. Only time will tell, or actually, Apple will.
