FaceCrypt Uses Selfies to Unlock Your iPhone, Keep It Safe

Your selfies can now unlock content on your iPhone (please, no duckface)

facecrypt selfie to unlock iphone — Image used with permission by copyright holder

As if selfies weren’t ubiquitous enough, a new app called FaceCrypt now allows you to unlock your content on your phone by taking a snapshot of your face.

“Basically, you take a selfie, as it’s called, and it’s a biometric and it will recognize you … That’s the key method to getting to the application,” said FaceCrypt CEO Jeremy Rose in an interview with Fox Business.

FaceCrypt does not lock down specific apps, instead it locks down the FaceCrypt app itself. The app contains what the company calls vaults, which can contain everything from apps to photos. Aside from facial recognition, FaceCrypt also makes use of pattern and password locks. According to CNet, the previous version of the app was only accessible through a protected Web site in a standard browser. Facecrypt made the process more secure in the new version by introducing its own embedded browser.

The app is only available for iPhones and iPads. Facial recognition is already built into some Android phones through Face Unlock. In theory, a person can take a photo of you and use it to fool the facial recognition feature. However, the photo needs to be very clear and show your full face. To address this, FaceCrypt included a “liveness detection” feature. It basically checks on eye blinks to make sure the face in front of it is attached to a living, breathing person.

The app comes in three variants. There’s a free version that requires in-app purchases, a $5 basic version, and a $7 plus version. There’s no word yet on whether duckface affects the app’s effectiveness. For the sake of mankind, we hope it does.

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