Apple has updated its Face ID security documentation to explain how the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max use additional image data during facial authentication. The extra data supplements the depth map and infrared image captured by the TrueDepth camera, with Apple saying it helps maintain Face ID performance.
The change is described in an Apple support article updated as the new phones became available. It is a technical detail of the current iPhone generation, not a new app or a separate identity service. Face ID continues to support device unlocking, Apple Pay purchases and sign-in to apps that allow the authentication method, as well as purchases from Apple’s media services.
In the existing process, the TrueDepth camera projects invisible dots to construct a depth map and captures an infrared image of the face. A protected part of the device’s neural engine transforms those inputs into a mathematical representation and compares it with the enrolled face data. On iPhone 18 Pro models or later, Apple says that the depth and infrared inputs are supplemented by additional image data during an unlock attempt.
Apple says the supplemental image data on devices that use it is processed by the Secure Exclave, a hardware-isolated compartment for sensor information. That compartment is distinct from the Secure Enclave, which protects the encrypted mathematical representations used by Face ID. According to Apple, information processed by the Secure Exclave is inaccessible to iOS, apps, the device owner and Apple itself.
The company also says Face ID data remains on the device and is not backed up to iCloud. Apps receive an authentication result rather than the enrolled face information. Users still need a passcode to set up Face ID and after five unsuccessful facial matches, among other security conditions.
The new documentation concerns the processing path for Face ID, rather than the wider uses of the authentication method. Apple has previously expanded Face ID to authorize trusted-computer connections, extending the same device-bound biometric check beyond unlocking and payments. The iPhone 18 Pro update instead changes the information used within a Face ID match while retaining the on-device security model Apple describes.
Sources: Apple Support, Apple Newsroom
–
By the ID Tech Editorial Team
