This article was published on April 6, 2020

The Pixel 4 can now require your eyes to be open for face unlock to work


The Pixel 4 can now require your eyes to be open for face unlock to work

The Pixel 4‘s face unlock mostly works great, but it might work a little too well. Since launch, the phone’s biometric security has had a glaring weakness: it works even if your eyes are closed.

If someone murdered you and then stole your phone, they could unlock your device by pointing it at your face. You probably don’t care that much if you’re dead though, so in a more likely scenario, your friends and family could unlock your phone while you were sleeping. Those miscreants.

Such dire scenarios are now avoidable. Google today issued its April security patch for the Pixel 4, which just so happened to sneak in the Face Unlock feature. It doesn’t appear to be enabled by default, but instead is available as an option under the Face Unlock settings menu.

There are a few fixes, including some updates for Bluetooth Audio which you can read about here. The update is already rolling out to Pixel devices, but if you’re in that much of a hurry you can always flash the OTA.

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Via Android Police

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