How Secure Are Face ID and Touch ID?

Author: Harry Guinness / Source: howtogeek.com

Apple claims Face ID and Touch ID are secure, and for the most part that’s true. It’s extremely unlikely a random person could unlock your phone. But that’s not the only type of attack to worry about it. Let’s dig a little deeper.

Although they use different biometric authentication methods, Face ID and Touch ID are very similar under the hood.

When you try to log in to your iPhone—either by looking at the camera on the front or putting your finger on the touch sensor—the phone compares the biometric data it detects with the data that’s saved in the Secure Enclave—a separate processor that’s entire purpose is to keep your phone secure. If the face or fingerprint matches, your iPhone unlocks. If not, you’re prompted to enter your passcode. While all this sounds good on paper, is it secure?

Face ID and Touch ID are Generally Secure

In general, Touch ID and Face ID are secure. Apple claims that there is a 1 in 50,000 chance that someone else’s fingerprint will falsely unlock your iPhone and a 1 in 1,000,000 chance that someone else’s face will do it. There’s a 1 in 10,000 someone could just guess a four digit passcode and a 1 in 1,000,000 chance they could guess your six digit passcode (and they get three tries before they’re locked out). That should put things into perspective.

The chance that someone could randomly pick up—or steal—your phone, and then be able to unlock it by using their fingerprint, face, or even by guessing your passcode is incredibly slim.

The one caveat to this is identical twins or siblings that look very similar are more likely to create a false positive. In that case, there is a chance that your sibling might be able to unlock your phone with Face ID. However, identical twins only make up 0.003% of the population, so it’s not a risk that applies to many. If this is something you’re worried about, you can turn off Face ID and just use a secure passcode.

But, guarding against this kind of casual intrusion isn’t the only thing to be…

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