Google Pixel 4's face unlock will get more secure but not straight away

In the meantime, you might want to use lockdown.
By Stan Schroeder  on 
Google Pixel 4's face unlock will get more secure but not straight away
Google Pixel 4's face recognition feature will get more secure "in the coming months." Credit: Zlata Ivleva / Mashable

The Pixel 4 and 4 XL are Google's first smartphones to have a face unlocking security feature similar to Apple's Face ID, but they have a pretty glaring omission — the phone can be unlocked by scanning the owner's face when you're asleep, which obviously isn't very secure.

Now, according to The Verge, Google has promised to fix the issue, albeit the timeline is quite loose: "in the coming months."

Unlike the new Pixels, Apple's iPhones have a toggle for this, allowing you to set whether you want the phone to require your attention — meaning your eyes have to be open and looking at the screen — or not.

Google told The Verge it's essentially been working on the same thing: "an option for users to require their eyes to be open to unlock the phone."

Despite the lack of this feature, Google claims that the phone still offers good protection, for example, it is "resilient" to unlock attempts with a mask. However, anyone worried that someone might take their phone and use their sleeping face to unlock it, should probably use a password instead.

There's another security feature that helps remedy this. It's called "lockdown," and it temporarily turns off fingerprint or face recognition unlocking (as well a notifications). Google's explanation of the feature and directions on how to turn it on are here.

Topics Google

Stan Schroeder
Stan Schroeder
Senior Editor

Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.


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