It hasn't even been a month since the launch of the new OnePlus flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 6, and the people of the internet have already started fiddling with the phone. At least two online sources have torn the OnePlus 6 down to examine its inner workings in the last couple of weeks. Now, @rikvduijn, a Twitter-user from Netherlands has posted a video of himself claiming to have fooled the OnePlus 6's Face Unlock system with a printed photo instead of the owner's real face.
In the video, rik's companion is seen holding the OnePlus 6 against a printed photo of rik's face. Several seconds later, the phone is turned around to the camera to show that it was unlocked even without rik looking at it. What we don't know for sure is how bona fide the test actually was, as the screen of the phone was never actually shown during the unlocking process. rik later added as a comment to his tweet that even a black-and-white photo is capable of fooling the OnePlus's Face Unlock system.
https://twitter.com/rikvduijn/status/1001472715566538752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
When asked to comment on the video, OnePlus was later heard responding to PhoneArena with the statement, "We designed Face Unlock around convenience, and while we took corresponding measures to optimise its security we always recommended you use a password/PIN/fingerprint for security. For this reason Face Unlock is not enabled for any secure apps such as banking or payments. We’re constantly working to improve all of our technology, including Face Unlock."
OnePlus launched the OnePlus 6 earlier this month at a price of Rs 34,999 for the base model. It employs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset and offers up to 8GB of RAM. Face Unlock has been around on Android smartphones for a few years now, but has never been particularly reliable. Since Apple's recent implementation of the technology on the iPhone X, many smartphone makers, including OnePlus, seem to have taken a special interest in perfecting it.