Samsung Galaxy S10 Face Recognition Can Easily Be Bypassed

The face recognition-based screen lock feature in the Samsung Galaxy S10 can be easily fooled using a photo or a video of the owner as shown by multiple reports coming from customers, experts and tech reviewers.

While it that may come as a surprise for some, at the start of 2019, the Dutch Consumentenbond not-for-profit organization was able to show after testing 110 smartphones from multiple vendors that in 42 of them the face unlock feature can be circumvented using a high-quality portrait photo of the owner.

This time, users and tech reviewers were the ones who managed to prove that the face recognition screen lock is a lot less secure than customers would expect considering that the Samsung Galaxy S10 is the company's flagship smartphone.

For instance, as reported by AndroidPolice, SmartWorld was able to unlock a Galaxy S10 using a simple photo of the owner, while security researcher Jane Manchun Wong was able to unlock her brother's device using her own face because of family resemblance.

I unlocked my brother's Galaxy S10+ with my face

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 9, 2019

Additionally, both The Verge and Unbox Therapy's Lewis Hilsenteger were able to unlock Samsung's Galaxy S10 using a simple video with the face of the device's owner, a method to circumvent the face unlock that seems to have the highest percentage of success among the three we've already mentioned.

It's obvious by now that using facial recognition to unlock your new Galaxy S10 is definitely not a good idea and locking your device using this method could expose your private info if someone else gets their hands on it.

To be fair though, Samsung also says it in the face recognition description which argues that it "is considered less secure than other lock types because there is some possibility that someone who looks like you or who uses an image of your face could unlock your phone."

Samsung also advises users to "keep in mind that Face recognition might not recognize you if there are major changes to your appearance, such as heavy makeup, facial hair changes, or glasses. If you usually wear glasses, you might want to keep them on while you set up Face recognition."

As previously mentioned in the beginning, in 4 out of 10 smarthpones tested by the Dutch Consumentenbond face unlock was found to be useless being easily bypassed with a simple photo.

However, Samsung's Galaxy S9, S9 + and Note 9, Huawei's Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, as well as Apple's iPhone XS, XS Max and XR did not fall for the photo unlocking trick, and, at that time, it seemed to indicate that the latest generations of smartphones will fair a lot better against these type of tricks.

Apparently, this is not the case anymore, giving that Samsung Galaxy S10 devices on which face recognition is used as a screen lock method can be unlocked using photos or videos of the owner, and by people with similar facial features like siblings.

Reports of facial recognition used by smartphones and personal computers being easily bypassed using photos have surfaced before, therefore users should think twice before deciding to use their face to lock and unlock their devices' screens.