Missing the Fingerprint Reader since I can't Face Unlock wearing a mask...

Emperor

Well-known member
Oct 21, 2010
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Consider our current pandemic, I'm wearing a mask when I run errands for elderly family members. Naturally, with the mask on, face unlocks doesn't work so I'm constantly swiping pattern to unlock. Now I'm really missing the fingerprint reader. Might be the only one ... But I'm hoping they bring it back with Pixel 5.
 
like your out the box thinking ..... didn't work. it kept telling to try again for the lower portion of my face.
 
I would invoke smart unlock for on body detection which I do anyway under normal circumstances.
 
I'd prefer to have the option to use fingerprint, but I can't say I miss it overall.
 
Consider our current pandemic, I'm wearing a mask when I run errands for elderly family members. Naturally, with the mask on, face unlocks doesn't work so I'm constantly swiping pattern to unlock. Now I'm really missing the fingerprint reader. Might be the only one ... But I'm hoping they bring it back with Pixel 5.

Out of curiosity, what type of mask do you wear?

Since facial recognition is done using radar-like signals, perhaps some mask materials would be more "transparent" then others. Might make for a fun afternoon experiment...
 
Consider our current pandemic, I'm wearing a mask when I run errands for elderly family members. Naturally, with the mask on, face unlocks doesn't work so I'm constantly swiping pattern to unlock. Now I'm really missing the fingerprint reader. Might be the only one ... But I'm hoping they bring it back with Pixel 5.

I miss it too. :)
 
Consider our current pandemic, I'm wearing a mask when I run errands for elderly family members. Naturally, with the mask on, face unlocks doesn't work so I'm constantly swiping pattern to unlock. Now I'm really missing the fingerprint reader. Might be the only one ... But I'm hoping they bring it back with Pixel 5.

I'm really uneasy about people using their phones when they are outside of their homes. The phones can pick up the virus from your gloved, or ungloved, hands ... even cleaning it right away, there are nooks and crannies that you may not be able to clean.
 
i miss it, its just simpler, quicker than face unlock. I can already have the phone unlocked before my face even sees the phone. I hope the next one has it either on the back or in the screen, otherwise i might be swithcing phones
 
Yeah I miss them on both my iPhone and Pixel 4 XL in scenarios like this. I want some company to offer both secure face id (not the insecure ones most companies have) and fingerprint sensor included. Probably some Android company would have definitely done that but I'm talking about Samsung, Apple, Google, OnePlus and other main US players.

To think of it Samsung had both with the Iris scanner but that never worked that great for me like the iPhone or Pixel face id does.
 
Out of curiosity, what type of mask do you wear?

Since facial recognition is done using radar-like signals, perhaps some mask materials would be more "transparent" then others. Might make for a fun afternoon experiment...

N99 mask. I am going to try a surgical mask tomorrow to see if it works.
 
i miss it, its just simpler, quicker than face unlock. I can already have the phone unlocked before my face even sees the phone. I hope the next one has it either on the back or in the screen, otherwise i might be swithcing phones
I agree 100%. And the position on the back of the Pixel 3 XL was absolutely perfect.
 
N99 mask. I am going to try a surgical mask tomorrow to see if it works.

FWIW, I just noticed something that I may or may not find fault with: If I wear my surgical mask properly - from the bridge of the nose to the underside of the chin - Face Unlock cannot recognize me (as expected). However, if I lower the top of the mask so that it fully covers the area from the underside of my chin all the way up to the area directly under my nose, Face Unlock works just fine.

Hmmm...
 
Guess they didn't anticipate the mask wearing! Must be a problem in some countries where masks are routinely worn in cities.
 
Guess they didn't anticipate the mask wearing! Must be a problem in some countries where masks are routinely worn in cities.

Right, but think about what this means: Face Unlock is actually using only a small portion of the face to make an unlock decision. I often wear a baseball cap and it has no effect on Face Unlock, thus it is ignoring pretty much everything above eyebrow level. And now we find out that it also ignores pretty much everything below the tip of the nose.

Makes me wonder just how reliable it really is...
 
just choose "none" in security settings before you go into grocery store or whatever, or don't touch your phone while in store (what I do)
 
Still happy with my 3 XL. It still does everything I want and does it well.
AND it reads my fingerprint just as it always did. :cool:
 
same here, still using a 3XL. I will have to see what the 5 brings or look at OnePlus or Apple.