Video reveals face recognition flaw in Galaxy S8

It was meant to be Samsung’s ‘saving grace’, but the Galaxy S8 has already caused Android users to worry. An early reviewer discovered a flaw in the facial recognition feature, which lets users unlock the smartphone by looking at the front-facing ‘with lighting capabilities’. It was found that the technology can be easily bypassed by […]

It was meant to be Samsung’s ‘saving grace’, but the Galaxy S8 has already caused Android users to worry.

An early reviewer discovered a flaw in the facial recognition feature, which lets users unlock the smartphone by looking at the front-facing ‘with lighting capabilities’.

It was found that the technology can be easily bypassed by holding up a photo displayed on another handset – instead of the user’s real face.

The facial recognition in the smartphone has proved to have lightening quick capabilities and the facial tracking features are able to instantly recognize the users face – the process seems to be much faster than fingerprint recognition.

Blogger Marcianophone set up a S8 handset with his face at the unpacked event, which unveiled the new Android, and in seconds, revealed how simple it was to trick the facial recognition technology with just a selfie.

This also means that it would be possible to use the face of a user who is sleeping.

The South Korean firm has acknowledged the flaw and explained that the facial recognition technology was not meant to be a security feature.

However, it did say that it serves as another way to get to the Home screen- as opposed to Slide to Lock.

“Facial recognition is a convenient action to open your phone – similar to the ‘swipe to unlock’ action’’ said a Samsung spokesperson in a statement sent to Business Insider.

The South Korean firm has acknowledged the flaw and explained that the facial recognition technology was not meant to be a security feature. However, it did say that it serves as another way to get to the Home screen- as opposed to Slide to Lock.