We do not often jailbreak our iPhones to check apps, but a facial recognition unlock tool seemed a worthy excuse, so we gave it a shot. RecognizeMe uses front-facing camera on your iPhone 4 (and iPad 2 , eventually) to unlock the telephone for its owner. Unfortunately, it also unlocked the device for Brian Heater (center), our resident 900 number enthusiast, and Bianca Bosker , Huff Po’s tech editor and our only other friend within the newsroom. The app encompasses a setting for verification threshold, so we played around with that, trying a dozen times to get the app to disregard Brian, but even at 80 percent it was recognizing either one of us (65 percent was the cutoff for Bianca). Bumping the edge as much as 100% finally locked Brian out, but at that level, the device wouldn’t unlock for anyone, making it totally secure — and totally busted. Verification took a whole 25 seconds to timeout (in comparison to 5-15 seconds to grant access at lower levels, looking on lighting conditions), so using this app requires p-a-t-i-e-n-c-e. At this point, RecognizeMe is a $7 gimmick that may impress your grandmother (assuming she doesn’t ask to take a look at it herself), but when it is advisable keep your device under lock and key, a tried-and-true passcode continues to be the best way to go.
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