iOS 12 Beta Proves Face ID is Coming to iPad

Danielle from Leaf and Core

6 years ago

Reading Time: 2 minutes.

https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/1013958667409018886?s=21

Apple has leaked their own plans once again. Developer Steven Troughton-Smith discovered an iPad-ready version of AvatarKit, the framework that powers Animoji on the iPhone X. AvatarKit relies on the Face ID setup on the iPhone X, therefore, it’s currently restricted to this lone phone. However, since Apple made an iPad version of AvatarKit, we can be certain that the iPad will be next to receive Face ID. Also, since Apple’s putting it in iOS 12, we can be sure that Face ID is coming to the iPad this year, rather than next year with iOS 13.

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Face ID On the iPad: Small Bezels and no Notch?

I’m currently typing this on a 9.7″ iPad Pro. It’s a device I love, but if I had one complaint, it would be the giant bezels around the screen. It feels so strange to see them after using my iPhone X. Apple shrunk these bezels in the 10.5″ iPad Pro, but still left room at the top and bottom of the display for the Touch ID/Home button. This leaves a huge bezel at the top for a single, small camera to match the bezel required at the bottom for the Home button. Compared to the concept rendering by Álvaro Pabesio of Bēhance above, it looks a little silly.

If the iPad Pro is getting Face ID, it means the rest of Apple’s lineup won’t be far behind. Apple’s other iPhones and tablets will likely get Face ID within the next year, as Apple optimizes production costs and moves to a bezel-free future. Soon, Apple’s products won’t waste space on bezels.

Landscape Face ID

You might be puzzled by my praise for Face ID on the iPad, especially since I hate it so much. However, if Apple’s moving Face ID to the iPad, it means they’ve improved at least one drawback: landscape orientation. The iPhone X can’t unlock your phone if you don’t hold it in portrait orientation first, but this is even less practical on the iPad than it is on the iPhone. iPad owners often use their iPads in landscape orientation with a keyboard (as I’m doing right now) or at an angle while they’re drawing with the Apple Pencil. Surely Apple wouldn’t release an authentication tool that requires most users to be inconvenienced.

Apple will also have to change a few other drawbacks of Face ID. Currently, there’s a sweet spot for the iPhone, between one and two feet from your face. While the iPad likely won’t need to work closer to your face, it will need to recognize you slightly further away than the iPhone may require. It may also require additional viewing angles, as many people use an iPad Pro flat on a surface while drawing. Face ID on the iPad won’t be perfect, Face ID likely won’t be close to replacing the convenience of Touch ID for a few years, but it’ll be a drastic improvement over Face ID for the iPhone X. Maybe one day Face ID will be nearly as enjoyable to use as Touch ID was.

Source: Tim Hardwick, MacRumors