Facebook tests letting you confirm logins with your face

Facebook is testing facial recognition as a way to verify your identity and let you back into your account if you’ve been locked out, reports TechCrunch. Facebook said the feature is optional and only available on devices that users have already used to log into their accounts. “It is another step, alongside two-factor authentication via SMS, that we’re taking to make sure account owners can confirm their identity,” Facebook said.

So if you’re locked out of your account and can’t access two-factor authentication, which sends a code by SMS, facial scanning could be another option down the line. Facebook says the facial verification would occur during the account recovery process.

In April last year, Facebook said it was working on a feature to automatically tag videos of you and your friends to make posts more searchable. It already does that for photos: Facebook’s DeepFace can tell with 97 percent accuracy whether two pictures are of the same person. Face recognition, though convenient, has traditionally been easy to trick; the Samsung S8’s facial scanner can be fooled with just a photo. The company has noted that facial scanning isn’t the most secure form of authenticating someone’s identity.

Facebook has also trained neural networks to recognize people by their hair, body shape, and posture. But, if you’re paranoid about all the facial recognition tech floating around — especially with the upcoming release of the iPhone X — these goofy glasses can trick facial scanners into thinking you’re someone else.