New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on October 29, 2019) follows:

Since Apple went full-on with Face ID by ditching the Touch ID/fingerprint scanner on the iPhone, several Android vendors have tried to emulate the feature on various phones with varying degrees of success.

All this time, though, Android didn’t include built-in support for the feature to be integrated into various Android apps and used as an option for secure biometric authentication.

With the latest and greatest from Google, Android 10, the search giant finally included new biometrics APIs that app developers can take advantage of and integrate the use of face unlock in their apps.

Google-Pixel-4-Just-Black

Google conveniently chose to introduce these APIs at a time when it was moving to facial recognition as the only biometric authentication method on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL phones. Yes, the duo completely ditched the fingerprint sensor, leaving you with a pattern or passcode as the only authentication method in case face unlock fails.

Considering the various security and privacy concerns that have popped up regarding the Pixel 4 face unlock, it looks like Google made a terrible decision not to keep the fingerprint scanner.

Look around and you’ll notice that not many devices rely solely on face unlock for biometric authentication. In fact, besides the iPhones, most devices that have face unlock also come with a fingerprint scanner, which is a choice Google should have made as it slowly perfects face unlock.

But of course, we all know Google is terrible with hardware decisions. As for the software side of things, you can hardly go wrong with the big G.

Speaking of software, the Pixel 4 face unlock feature isn’t compatible with every app that supports biometric authentication. As mentioned earlier, the company already provided the necessary APIs for integrating the feature, so it’s upon app developers to play their part.

As it stands, not so many have added support for Pixel 4 face unlock to their apps, at least going by the below list we picked up from Reddit. Of course, we expect the list to grow bigger as more developers add the support for facial recognition on board.

Here is the list of apps that support Pixel 4 face unlock feature:

1Password

ADP Mobile Solutions

aWallet Password Manager

Beem It

Bitwarden

Blackberry Work

Citibank

Dashlane

E*TRADE

Enpass

Firefox Lockwise

GEICO

Google Pay

HMRC

KeePass DX

Keeper

LastPass

Microsoft Authenticator

Nine – Email & Calendar

Password Safe

PayPay

Robinhood

s Identity

SafeinCloud

Samsung Browser (Secret Mode)

Signal (beta)

SkyBet

SoFi

Spectrum Mobile

Southwest Airlines

Turbo

Venmo

We will keep an eye on this development and update the post when more apps gain support for the Pixel 4 face unlock feature. Stay tuned to our Google section for more related coverage.

Update 1 (October 30)

Rather than wait for developers to add Pixel 4 face unlock support to your favorite apps, you can skip the queue by installing an app called Fingerface, which lets you use face unlock on any incompatible app that supports fingerprint authentication.

It’s available in the Play Store, but you’ll need the Xposed framework for this to work. More details here.

Update 2 (November 13)

We have added a handful of new apps and updated the list.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Hillary Keverenge
2033 Posts

Tech has been my playground for over a decade. While the Android journey began early, it truly took flight with the revolutionary Lollipop update. Since then, it's been a parade of Android devices (with a sprinkle of iOS), culminating in a mostly happy marriage with Google's smart home ecosystem. Expect insightful articles and explorations of the ever-evolving world of Android and Google products coupled with occasional rants on the Nest smart home ecosystem.

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