An Oak Bay woman says she's less than impressed with the facial recognition feature on her new iPhone – because her teen daughter was able to crack it.
Shannon Paul got the hottest smartphone on the market, the iPhone X, to deter her kids from swiping her phone when she wasn't looking.
"I got this iPhone X for security because my kids are always taking my phone and trying to use it," she told CTV News.
At $999, the costly device was billed as the most secure iPhone ever, swapping out thumbprint technology for cutting-edge facial recognition technology.
After initially mapping the user's face, the phone is supposed to only unlock when presented with that person's face once more.
At its launch event last September, Apple said the odds of a random person unlocking an iPhone X using the facial scan were one in a million.
That's why Paul said she was shocked when her 13-year-old daughter, who does bear a resemblance to her, scanned her own face – and was able to get into the phone.
"My daughter picked it up last night and she got in," said Paul. "Every angle for her worked. My other daughter who's 12 tried it and it didn't work for her, but it worked for my 13-year-old daughter."
Paul even filmed a video that she posted to Facebook of her daughter successfully scanning her face to get into the phone.
Apple said the probability of someone unlocking an iPhone X with their face was different for twins and siblings, and people under the age of 13.
But there's no specific mention of children who may share a parent's features, which is why Paul is sounding the alarm for consumers expecting a fool-proof safety feature.
"You might have your credit cards on your phone, especially with teenagers getting on your phone, you don't want them getting online and buying stuff," she said.
Paul said she's going to go back to using a numeric passcode instead of facial scan and notify Apple of the security flaw.
