Pixel 4 displays nonfunctional ‘require eye to be open’ facial recognition setting

Introduced in October 2019, Google’s Pixel 4 included a vulnerability in the biometric Face Unlock feature which did not check for liveness and allowed users to unlock the phone with their eyes closed.

According to Android Police, Google has been working on fixing this problem and added a “require eyes to be open” setting. However, the feature is hidden and can only be found by manually looking for it in the Settings search bar.

When selected, the user is sent to the Face Unlock screen but the feature does not appear. Android Police says this setting was present in the early product leaks but Google removed them before launch. Although Google seems to be working on adding liveness to Face Unlock and there have been other monthly patches, the feature is not working at the moment.

Before the official launch, Google actively promoted the phone’s 3D biometric facial recognition feature to unlock the phone and authorize payments and apps, and Soli technology to unlock “all in one motion.”

Samsung devices have also been found to unlock with facial recognition when the subject’s eyes are closed, and both Samsung and Google said soon after the issue was discovered that software updates would soon be rolled out.

Article Topics

access control  |  biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Google  |  smartphones