If past years launches of Android dev previews are anything to go by we’re only a month or so away from seeing an Android Q beta, and while we’ve seen some great new features already in a leaked preview we might also be getting better face matching support for secure login as well.
According to articles at XDA-Developers, code in the leaked Android Q image points to a replacement of the existing, and rather unsecure, Trusted Face feature with support for hardware facial recognition sensors similar to those on Huawei, Oppo and other handsets. The biometric framework will be setup similar to the newly implemented fingerprint sensor dialogue released in Android 9 to standardise the operation across handsets.
The strings pointing to this show a fairly comprehensive setup and implementation process, allowing you to setup a new face match with the on-board sensors on your phone.
As with your fingerprint unlock though, you will still be required to setup a password, PIN, or pattern as a fall back if the biometric authentication fails.
There’s no telling if this feature will make it into the final Android Q Dev Preview, or even into the final build expected to be released later this year. We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.
