{
  "id": 19658103,
  "title": "Apple’s HomeView Tries Face Authentication Without FaceID",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/apples-homeview-tries-face-authentication-without-faceid",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-11-12T14:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Wired",
    "slug": "wired",
    "url": "https://www.wired.com/story/apples-homeview-tries-face-authentication-without-faceid/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Apple's new HomeView device is taking a different approach to face authentication compared to its FaceID technology. While FaceID is designed to work best when a person is looking directly at their device from close range, HomeView is intended to be used by multiple people in a room. To ensure security and privacy, HomeView checks both faces and voices before accessing data from iCloud. It also verifies that the device is on the same Wi-Fi network as HomeView and has been recently unlocked using FaceID or a PIN.\n\nApple's decision to use a new technology called Secure Exclave, rather than the Secure Enclave, for processing the video and audio data required for face authentication, is part of a broader effort to improve security across various features on Apple devices. The Secure Exclave is a memory-protected space within recent Apple processors, such as the S11 chip in the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, and the A20 Pro chip in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo.\n\nAlthough the Secure Exclave isn't based on the same technology as Secure Enclave, Apple claims it is still robust and enhances the company's ability to secure features like \"Hey Siri\" detection. The Secure Exclave also plays a role in managing the indicator light for camera and microphone activity, further isolating this process to make it harder for attackers to interfere. However, the technology behind HomeView is not as comprehensive as FaceID and may be more vulnerable to certain attacks, such as reconstructed 3D depth map attacks or potential voiceprint attacks.",
  "summary": "Apple’s FaceID has long provided robust authentication. But for its smart home device, HomeView, the company is betting on new “person recognition” technology that has yet to be challenged in the wild.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}