iPhone 8 Face Unlock Won't Work With Apple Pay

The HomePod firmware, which Apple itself "accidentally" leaked, has been a treasure trove of clues ironically for the iPhone 8 rather than the speaker. Because of that, we've gotten whiff of what is internally called Pearl ID, which still has to have a buzzword name. For now, "3D face recognition" will have to suffice. According to the latest dissection iPhone 8-related code, Pearl ID authentication can be used for almost anything. That is, except for making payments.

On the one hand, that's not exactly surprising. Face recognition, even as supposedly advanced as the iPhone 8's, is still a very new technology generally speaking. Very few use it for authentication, like Microsoft's Windows Hello, which has had a bit of time in the market already. At least long enough for Microsoft to be confident enough to use it for making money transactions.

"Pearl ID", on the other hand, hasn't even been revealed yet. At least not formally. According to those who have dug through the evidence, there is nothing pointing to the fact that it can be used for Apple Pay, though some contest that there actually is some evidence to the contrary.

That does, however, put iPhone 8 users at a disadvantage. Unless Apple has a pleasant or shocking surprise, the smartphone is believed to have no Touch ID hardware. This means that for every Apple Pay transaction, users will have to manually enter their PIN. Either that or use an Apple Watch along with the iPhone 8. It is definitely one of the stranger pieces of this mostly complete puzzle.

VIA: Guilherme Rambo (@_inside)