• News
• Modojo @ Shacknews

Samsung Galaxy S10 face unlock can be easily tricked

The Samsung Galaxy S10's face unlock feature is easy to fool if you know what you're doing, apparently.

Brittany Vincent

March 11, 2019 8:30 AM

1

One of the most useful features of using facial recognition on your phone is the idea that no one should be able to use your device if they don't look like you. That's how it should work, anyway. A new video by Unbox Therapy proves that, even with new tech like the Samsung Galaxy S10, this can be easily circumvented.

Both The Verge and Unbox Therapy were able to trick the Samsung Galaxy S10's face recognition technology by using videos played back via phone, which kinda defeats the purpose of having the face recognition tech in place anyway. The phone wasn't even in pristine condition, having been smudged with fingerprints and dirt from the beginning, and held a few inches away. The S10 read the video as the person's face, however, with seemingly no issue.

And it's not even video that's necessary to unlock the device. Jane Wong was able to use her own face to unlock her brother's Galaxy S10 by doing nothing but looking at it. Indeed, the phone thought they looked similarly enough to go ahead and unlock the device. These indiscretions could be related to the Galaxy S10's special "faster recognition" setting that does decrease security, but that wasn't the case in at least one of the instances where the phone was fooled (outlet SmartWorld used a static photo).

Apparently S10+ thinks we look the same

But we don't...? pic.twitter.com/COAS9QJodK

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 9, 2019

So while it may seem that using your face as the most secure way to lock and unlock your phone may be a pretty bad idea when you think about it, at least when it comes to the new Samsung Galaxy S10. Samsung has yet to comment on the situation, so if the tech giant is aware of the issue, it hasn't given us any indication that it is. Apple's Face ID hasn't been slammed with the same issues just yet, however, so if you're using an iPhone this may not be an issue. The S10, though? Could be worth using a different form of security for now. 

Brittany Vincent

Senior Editor

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!