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  • All right, let's see.

  • You did not type in anything there.

  • Let's do it again.

  • Okay, I'm thinking this scene needs a bit of explaining.

  • So you've probably noticed we're all wearing masks because, well

  • You must now wear a mask.

  • A mask.

  • Everywhere you go.

  • But one slight problem I realized.

  • Apple's face unlock feature, AKA Face ID, doesn't let you into your phone when a mask is covering your nose and mouth.

  • Mask number one.

  • Believe me, I've tried many, many masks.

  • This is a handmade mask.

  • And tried retraining the whole system many, many times.

  • Nope, not letting me in.

  • That's when I came across.

  • I'm Danielle Baskin.

  • And what do you do?

  • I'm a product designer.

  • What are you talking about with me today?

  • Back in February, Danielle had the funny idea to print faces on masks because she had heard about that Face ID and mask issue.

  • There was just one slight problem with those.

  • It turns out though that Face ID actually uses depth instead of an image, so I ended up making a mask that actually has a contour of your face that can work with Face ID.

  • And does that work?

  • Yes, it works.

  • I had to see it to believe it.

  • And since I'm sheltering in place in New Jersey and Danielle is in San Francisco, I made her demonstrate it via video chat, a lot.

  • I even made her get out a mirror to make sure I wasn't being played.

  • Is this good?

  • That's way better.

  • Welp, I believe you now.

  • So this mask isn't exactly easy to make.

  • First, Danielle had to make a clay form of a nose and mouth.

  • It wasn't even hers.

  • Then she made a plastic shell using a vacuum former machine.

  • When the mask was ready, she enrolled it as an alternate appearance in the Face ID settings on her iPhone.

  • Apple said in a statement, "Face ID is designed to work with your eyes, nose, and mouth visible."

  • "Users can still unlock their devices while wearing a mask by entering their passcode."

  • When I tried to enroll my face using an N-95 mask and these various other cloth masks

  • Mask number two.

  • Three.

  • Four.

  • I got an error saying my face was obstructed.

  • But with Danielle's mask, the true depth camera on the iPhone and the Face ID software appears to recognize the geometry of the face.

  • In fact, it even works when she has sunglasses on.

  • Okay, ready?

  • Yup.

  • Wow.

  • This is also different from what many have tried to do.

  • Okay, fine, I tried to do.

  • By creating a mask of someone and then attempting to trick the phone, this isn't trickery.

  • It requires you enroll the mask as one of your faces.

  • Are you planing to make these and sell these?

  • What's the plan?

  • No time soon.

  • I mean, I'm not, there's a shortage of PPE, so I would not capitalize on making any masks.

  • If there is a value to making these for people that work in hospitals, I'm interested in developing it.

  • So yeah, you're not getting one of these soon, which leaves you with two options.

  • Keep trying to get Face ID to like your current mask.

  • Look like some sort of bird in this mask.

  • Or type your password over and over and over.

  • Yes, with gloves on, which I confirm did not require any special clay molds or special machinery.

All right, let's see.

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