[macintux]

> You make it look like it's easy for the normal Apple user to switch to Android.

No, I'm saying Face ID is not mandatory on an iPhone X. You can use a passcode.

Nor am I saying privacy should be sacrificed on the altar of technology. I do my best to stay away from Google, and I try not to let Facebook know any more about me than necessary (and every day I contemplate ditching it, but there are a few important reasons to stick around).

There are plenty of ways to do biometric security wrong from a privacy standpoint. I trust Apple to do an earnest job of doing it right, because they have positive incentives to work for their user base rather than being a data collection/ad selling company.

And if biometrics aren't where you wish to place your faith, you can simply not enable the feature.

[aluhut]

Would opting out of FaceID also lock down the feature completely for the APIs?

FYI: you can have an Android phone complete without a single google app or the google app store. LineageOS is the most popular alternative OS. There also other stores you can put on your phone. Like F-Droid, which hosts open source apps.

[macintux]

> Would opting out of FaceID also lock down the feature completely for the APIs?

Biometrics, yes. AR-based depth mapping, no.

[aluhut]

Really? Let's look in the App Store Guidelines:

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#dat...

5.1.2 Data Use and Sharing

    (i) You may not attempt, facilitate, or encourage others to identify anonymous users or reconstruct user profiles based on data collected from depth and/or facial mapping tools (e.g. ARKit, Camera APIs, or Photo APIs)

-----

Let's wrap this up here.

- A user issues his fears based on a technology that is the topic here

- he gets downvoted into oblivion but no comment follows

- I trigger a comment by stating the obvious behavior prevalent on every single article posted here that may be or even is critical towards Apple

- you declare the users comment stupid based on your assumption that a single software use of the general feature may not be misused. Even though you can't know that because we are talking about a closed system and the APIs allow that without a possibility to opt-out (if you have already granted general camera permissions).

- you further state that users don't need privacy either way because they gave it all away. Which is actually the only really stupid statement in this discussion here

- after all that you even go so far damning another US company based on actually nothing. A company that allowed the world to develop their own open source operating system and app world after you've done everything to protect a company that provides you with a system you actually know only what they allow you to know about.

macintux, I couldn't have wished for more to demonstrate what is wrong here. There is a quasi cult behavior in the Apple fan base turning people into marketing machines ready to drop everything to protect the brand while condemning everybody else. You owe the guy an upvote. I don't care.

[macintux]

> I couldn't have wished for more to demonstrate what is wrong here

Then I am glad to have been of service.

[aluhut]

I like how you ignored everything else ;)