Alibaba launches app with face recognition lock feature in India

Alibaba has launched Privacy Knight, India’s first free app-lock with a ‘face lock’ feature that allows users to unlock their protected apps by taking a one-second selfie.

The company claims that face lock and blink detection setting ensures a 99.47% accuracy for face recognition.

“Face lock is set to change the way people protect their privacy,” said Ebrahim Popat, country manager of 9Apps, an Android marketplace within Alibaba Mobile Business Group. “It’s the next big thing after fingerprint lock. The age of face lock is here.”

With the significant increase in smartphone use, India has become the largest consumer market for security apps in the world.

This considerable demand indicates an inherent need for more effective privacy protection.

“Indian users are particularly concerned about security of their private photos and SNS apps on their phones,” said Shuhua Chen, director of Alibaba mobile security department. “On the other hand, with predictable popularisation of mobile payment, the need for mobile financial security protection will also surge in the foreseeable future. Privacy Knight provides Indian users with an enjoyable and trustworthy privacy guard for their smartphone security.”

Privacy Knight runs on a one-second-step for face locking, saving users the hassle of remembering patterns or pincodes.

Meanwhile, the face lock and blink detection setting ensures a higher accuracy rate than any other recognition models in the world.

The app is truly secure as no user information upload is requested since face lock is accessible offline.

The app has several other features including app lock, vault, clean, themes, intruder selfie, fake cover, and fake icon.

The multiple app lock options allow users to seamless switch over to pattern/pincode and fingerprint to unlock automatically under insufficient light condition.

In March, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. CEO Jack Ma demonstrated facial recognition technologies for mobile payments solution Alipay at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover, Germany.

Article Topics

access control  |  Alibaba Group  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  fingerprint recognition  |  India  |  mobile app