Source code betrays Android Q built-in facial recognition

The upcoming version of Android, codenamed Q, is likely to get built-in facial recognition functionality. Traces of this were found in the source code of Android. Currently, manufacturers still have to build in facial recognition themselves.

The website XDA Developers discovered after sifting through the source code on the Android Open Source Project that there are many references to facial recognition. This should make it possible, among other things, to unlock the device, but it could also be used for other applications, such as confirming purchases made via the Android device.

As with the fingerprint scanner, Android requires the setting of a password, PIN or an unlock pattern for facial recognition can be used. However, there are no images of the functionality; XDA Developers failed to extract it from the available data.

Building facial recognition into Android should make it easier for manufacturers to apply this functionality. There are already manufacturers with Android smartphones that offer facial recognition, but they had to manually add it to the code. In addition, there is criticism that these implementations are not very secure, because they often only use the smartphone camera.

Earlier, the source code of Android already revealed that Google probably wants to make it possible to build in advanced SIM locks. This would make it possible, among other things, to make whitelists and blacklists of providers per simslot. An earlier preview from XDA Developers also showed features such as a desktop mode and an ability to have apps request the location only when they are in the foreground.