Introducing Pixel 7 smartphones, Google said that they support both face and fingerprint unlocking. However, as it turned out, the Face Unlock system is limited in functionality compared to Face ID.

Face unlock systems appeared on Android smartphones a long time ago, but initially they created 2D images that could be fooled using a photo of the owner’s face. Technologies have advanced since then, but they are still not reliable enough to be used, for example, to verify payments and make purchases. This can be done with the help of Face ID, which recognizes a three-dimensional image of the face, but the Pixel 7 cannot. And if the method isn’t reliable enough for financial transactions, new Google phones are only used for one thing – face unlock.

Google considers the Face Unlock system to be the first class of biometric identification, so for “sensitive transactions” (e.g. mobile banking) the Pixel 7 uses more reliable biometrics – a fingerprint scanner.