- All right, let's see.
(bouncy music)
You did not type in anything there.
Let's do it again.
- [Joanna Voiceover] Okay, I'm thinking this scene
needs a bit of explaining.
So you've probably noticed we're all wearing masks
because well,
- You must now wear a mask.
- A mask. - A mask.
- [Squeaking Voices] Mask, mask, mask.
- Everywhere you go.
- [Joanna Voiceover] But one slight problem I realized.
Apple's face unlock feature, AKA Face ID,
doesn't let you into your phone
when a mask is covering your nose and mouth.
- Mask number one.
- [Joanna Voiceover] Believe me,
I've tried many, many masks.
- This is a handmade mask.
- [Joanna Voiceover] And tried retraining
the whole system many, many times.
- Nope, not letting me in.
- [Joanna Voiceover] That's when I came across.
- I'm Danielle Baskin.
- And what do you do?
- I'm a product designer.
- What are you talking about with me today?
(laughter)
- [Joanna Voiceover] Back in February,
Danielle had the funny idea to print faces on masks
because she had heard about that Face ID and mask issue.
There was just one slight problem with those.
- It turns out though that Face ID actually uses depth
instead of an image, so I ended up making a mask
that actually has a contour of your face
that can work with Face ID.
- And does that work?
- Yes, it works.
- [Joanna Voiceover] I had to see it to believe it.
And since I'm sheltering in place in New Jersey
and Danielle is in San Francisco,
I made her demonstrate it via video chat,
a lot.
I even made her get out a mirror
to make sure I wasn't being played.
- Is this good?
- That's way better.
(bright music)
Welp, I believe you now.
- [Joanna Voiceover] So this mask isn't exactly
easy to make.
First, Danielle had to make a clay form of a nose and mouth.
It wasn't even hers.
Then she made a plastic shell
using a vacuum former machine.
When the mask was ready, she enrolled it as an
alternate appearance in the Face ID settings on her iPhone.
Apple said in a statement, "Face ID is designed to work
"with your eyes, nose, and mouth visible.
"Users can still unlock their devices while
"wearing a mask by entering their passcode."
When I tried to enroll my face using an N-95 mask
and these various other cloth masks,
- Mask number two,
three,
four.
- [Joanna Voiceover] I got an error saying
my face was obstructed.
But with Danielle's mask the true depth camera on the iPhone
and the Face ID software, appears to recognize
the geometry of the face.
In fact, it even works when she has sunglasses on.
- Okay, ready?
- [Joanna] Yup.
Wow.
- [Joanna Voiceover] This is also different from what
many have tried to do.
Okay, fine, I tried to do.
By creating a mask of someone
and then attempting to trick the phone,
this isn't trickery.
It requires you enroll the mask as one of your faces.
- Are you planing to make these and sell these?
What's the plan?
- No time soon. I mean, I'm not, there's a shortage of PPE,
so I would not capitalize on making any masks.
If there is a value to making these for people
that work in hospitals, I'm interested in developing it.
- [Joanna Voiceover] So yeah, you're not getting
one of these soon, which leaves you with two options.
Keep trying to get Face ID to like your current mask.
- Look like some sort of bird in this mask.
- [Joanna Voiceover] Or type your password
over and over and over.
Yes, with gloves on,
which I confirm did not require any special clay molds
or special machinery.
(upbeat music) (caw-caws like a bird)