The iPhone X's Face ID feature has successfully recognized user faces nether a variety of circumstances, including while sporting glasses, makeup, or a bristles. However, several users have reported that the advanced facial scan fails nether one particular status: When a user commencement wakes upwards in the morning, Slate reported.

The problem seems to lie in facial swelling, or the non-serious inflammation caused by allergies, water retention from dehydration, or fluids pooling upwards in the face while a person is lying down. While this doesn't radically change a person's advent, it does appear to give Face up ID a problem, at least for some users, according to Slate.

SEE: IT leader's guide to the future of artificial intelligence (Tech Pro Research)

Face ID works by mapping a user's confront in a similar fashion to how Touch on ID maps a fingerprint. It doesn't shop an image, but makes a map of the face using data points. When those information points match up with a face, information technology unlocks the phone. The method offers greater security than Touch ID, but it still tin can be hacked.

The trouble may exist less with the user's face up shape than with swelling effectually the optics, Marc Rogers, CSO for ScaleFT, told Slate. It appears that Confront ID "assigns a higher value for sure parts of the confront," he said. For example, a oral fissure can be covered and Face ID will even so piece of work, while a nose cannot. It appears that Face up ID needs open eyes to work, Rogers told Slate.

The issue may be frustrating for iPhone X users who spent at to the lowest degree $1,000 on the device. But at least they aren't completely locked out of their phones: If Face ID doesn't work, users are prompted to enter their passcode.

This isn't the first time that Confront ID has experienced problems. Some researchers used a 3D printed mask to hack the technology, and it experienced faulty rear camera issues. These issues could further increase fears around biometric security, every bit information technology becomes a more popular option for unlocking critical devices and data.

The large takeaways for tech leaders:

  • A number of iPhone 10 users have reported that the phone'southward Face ID characteristic does not recognize them when they first wake up, possibly due to facial swelling that occurs when someone is lying down.
  • When Face ID does not recognize a user's face up, they still have the option to enter a passcode and unlock their phone.