Google released its long-awaited Pixel 4 lineup of phones, and fans had some high expectations. The lineup was expected to be not less impressive than most of the flagships from 2019, and nobody was disappointed regarding the overall picture of the specs. However, there is one key aspect for Pixel 4 XL, which is triggering some concerns: the face unlock function. More precisely, people are concerned about the fact that the function works even if the user has his eyes closed.
Although the Pixel 4 XL received some positive reviews, the flaw mentioned above can be a pretty serious one, and it could endanger security. BBC was the first to raise this security shortcoming.
Why is it risky?
Well, let’s suppose someone grabs your phone while you are sleeping. He can unlock it simply by pointing it to your face, and you can guess what’s next: the guy can do anything he wants to it and see your data.
During a talk with BBC, security blogger Graham Cluley said that it is truly a security issue if anyone could unlock the phone when its owner sleeps.
What Google has to say
It’s pretty peculiar that Google didn’t hide the flaw somehow from the public. However, it offers some solutions and relieving explanations. Thus, it says that the Face ID feature can unlock your handset if used by someone who has a close resemblance to you. And second, Google suggests keeping the phone in a place where you can feel it will be safe and harder to be found.
Maybe the best way to avoid this weakness is to become a vampire somehow, so you will never need any sleep.
It’s nice to see the tremendous corporation from Mountain View being active also in the hardware field. For many years, they had so many to say regarding software services – the search engine, Google Maps, Youtube, Gmail, blogging platform, cloud service, Android operating system for mobiles, and others.
