Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:
Last week, Apple released the first build of the upcoming HomePod’s firmware, allowing curious developers to unpack the code and learn a few additional details about the smart speaker. Now, developer Steve Troughton-Smith has discovered code that seemingly confirms that the upcoming iPhone will support face unlock…
Smith explains that the code indicates the existence of infra-red face unlock in BiometricKit, which is the framework responsible for Touch ID. The code further suggests that Apple’s face unlock feature will be able to detect partially occluded face and faces from various angles. The codename for the project Pearl ID.
Here’s the Tweet that confirms infra-red face unlock:
I can confirm reports that HomePod’s firmware reveals the existence of upcoming iPhone’s infra-red face unlock in BiometricKit and elsewhere pic.twitter.com/yLsgCx7OTZ
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) July 31, 2017
And this one shows off the bezel-less form factor:
Me too. New bezel-less form factor as well pic.twitter.com/Y0RrSOk2OO
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) July 31, 2017
Very interesting. The reaction to this seems to be, the release of this specific information was not intentional. Hope this doesn’t cost someone their job. None of this is truly new information, more slightly more of a confirmation of what was already known.