Finally, after multiple App Store rejections, Robert Neagu’s FaceVault app has been approved by Apple and is now available in the iOS App Store. This is good news for those of us who do not have jailbroken phones, as an app like this called RecognizeMe has been available from Cydia for some time. FaceVault is a clone of the stock Android Ice Cream Sandwich feature called Face Unlock.
When one first launches the applications, you will go through a setup process to train the device to your facial features. Don’t worry, there is also a fallback unlock pattern you will need to set in the event your iPhone doesn’t recognize you. Since FaceVault is powered by the Face.com engine, you will need to grant permission to upload the trained facial image to their servers.
The interface seems to be very intuitive and friendly just as if it were native to the iOS system. The fallback pattern unlock will prove useful especially under low light conditions.
Another neat little feature is the app actually takes and stores a photo of someone attempting to access through the face detection if they are not you! Take a look at the demo video below.
FaceVault is available from the App Store for $0.99 and requires an iOS device running 5.0 or above.
Download FaceVault [iTunes]
