Apple HomeView recognizes people without using Face ID
Original title: Apple’s HomeView Tries Face Authentication Without FaceID
Checks run in a Secure Exclave and also require a nearby, recently unlocked iPhone or iPad.
Apple’s HomeView, debuting Friday, can personalize for up to six people using ambient face and voice “person recognition” instead of Face ID or Touch ID. Apple routes the video and audio through the Secure Exclave, a memory-protected processor region, and also requires the user’s iPhone or iPad to be on the same Wi-Fi and recently unlocked. WIRED says the check is less comprehensive than Face ID. Guest mode and a limited personalized mode can avoid calendar and Messages access.
Unconfirmed: WIRED says person recognition may be more exposed to 3D depth-map and voiceprint attacks; that is not confirmed.
- Secure Exclave is a memory-protected space, not a separate chip like the Secure Enclave.
- Apple says early architecture was already in iPhone 16 and 17 and MacBook Neo.
- It is also in the S11 for Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, and the A20 Pro.
- A Thursday blog post describes formal verification of the Secure Exclave microkernel.
- HomeView and MacBook Neo use it to control the camera and microphone indicator light.
Impact: Ambient face and voice used to unlock personal iCloud data
| Product | Affected |
|---|---|
| Apple HomeView | — |
- 1.Use guest mode or the limited personalized mode to avoid calendar and Messages access.
- Vendors
- Apple
From the original article
3 min read at wired.com
Apple’s FaceID has long provided robust authentication. But for its smart home device, HomeView, the company is betting on new “person recognition” technology that has yet to be challenged in the wild.
By Lily Hay Newman · wired.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.