Facebook to develop facial recognition for unlocking accounts, following Apple’s lead

Apple’s Face ID is one of the most talked about feature in the upcoming iPhone X.

Now following the lead, Facebook is also working on one such feature to help users unlock accounts in special cases when they are locked out and two authentication is not working for them.

A social media user, Devesh Logendran, found this feature first. Facebook has officially confirmed and told TechCrunch:

“We are testing a new feature for people who want to quickly and easily verify account ownership during the account recovery process. This optional feature is available only on devices you’ve already used to log in. It is another step, alongside two-factor authentication via SMS, that were taking to make sure account owners can confirm their identity.”

It is important how people will respond to this new feature, as Facebook has several times found itself in the center of a heated debate regarding privacy and security of user data. This facial recognition means that now Facebook will have more intimate data of all of its users who opt to sign up for this feature.

Right now there is no information on how the facial recognition system works and what kind of algorithm is working behind it. For now, Facebook is testing this feature with a close group of users and once tested and perfected, it will be rolled out to a larger group of audience.

Till then, we can all sit and speculate.