Google is still at work on face unlock for Pixel 6 Pro and maybe Pixel 7, too

There was talk a few months ago about Google finally bringing some sort of face unlock to the Pixel 6 series of phones. The reasoning was solid and there were quite a few reasons to believe Google planned on bringing some sort of camera-centric unlock to the Pixel 6 Pro, at least. While this clearly hasn’t actually happened just yet, there’s new evidence to suggest Google is still at work on this effort and reason to believe that – given enough time – we might see legitimate face unlock on the Pixel 6 Pro and the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro as well.

The new evidence of ongoing work

9to5 Google has managed to find more references to ongoing work for face unlock on at least the Pixel 6 Pro, and this combined with the previous clues tells me that Google is on a path to deliver this feature at some point in the future. If it wasn’t possible, they’d simply abandon the project altogether and move on. The continuing work tells me they believe it is still possible, and even on existing hardware, there’s reason to still hope it will show up.

The reference above is clear-cut evidence that work is still ongoing, and sources for 9to5 Google also confirm that face unlock is on the radar, citing issues with battery life and accuracy as reasons for the hold up. It seems Google wants to get this right the first time around instead of launching a half-baked feature that isn’t exactly a necessity.

Some thoughts on why they are waiting

While we don’t have any sources on this, I can share a gut feeling as to why Google is pushing this back a bit. While there are Android phones out there that leverage a front-facing camera face unlock, they aren’t exactly the most secure systems. Companies like Samsung and OnePlus have had this on their phones for years, but the face unlock via selfie camera has never been secure enough to fully replace your fingerprint. I feel like Google is after something a bit more robust.

While I don’t think Google will go back to the hardware setup they had on the Pixel 4 that tried so hard to mimic the iPhone’s face unlock feature, I do think they might be trying to leverage some AI and ML to utilize the front facing camera for a secure biometric option. This would need to go beyond a simple facial recognition, and would have to behave a lot more like Apple’s FaceID to be secure, but there are models in place to make this happen with the right camera hardware.

With tech like dual-pixel autofocus, depth mapping can happen with a single lens and when combined with Google’s own algorithms, this data can be used to create a secure, biometric unlocking mechanism for your phone. This would explain the fact that work is mainly focused on the Pixel 6 Pro when we talk about face unlock due to the fact that this device has a dual-pixel sensor in the front facing camera and the Pixel 6 does not.

Allowing truly-secure facial unlocking via a simple front camera would be a big deal if Google can make it happen. For now, this is still in the works and though Google hasn’t given up on it, they clearly haven’t solved it yet, either. I’m hopeful that they do and hopeful that they can also prove the legitimacy of this face unlock method when/if it launches.