Submitted by Fred Straker on
Rumors of facial recognition technology coming to the iPhone have been swirling around for years. Apple purchased Polar Rose almost four years ago, and patents filed even before the acquisition point towards development work in this vein. For those who are looking to add this biometric security feature to their iOS devices now, the jailbreak tweak Appellancy fits the bill.
Once installed, Appellancy adds an app to the home screen. Here the user can capture multiple images to be used in the facial recognition process that unlocks the device. A higher number of photos will improve security, but this can also slow down recognition. More than one face can be stored, allowing multiple people to unlock the iPhone with their visage.
The first time Appellancy is used, it will ask for and remember the passcode on the device. Moving forward, only a recognized face scan is needed to unlock iOS. Simply looking at the lock screen will do the trick. Users can also swipe to the passcode lock keypad to see a video preview from the front camera while Appellancy verifies the face.
The lock screen preview can be switched off, and several other options can be configured under Settings -> Appellancy. The tweak can be disabled entirely, and the timing for when it starts scanning for faces on the lock screen is customizable. Appellancy is compatible with other lock screen tweaks including ClassicLockScreen, Convergance and iCaughtU.
Appellancy is available for $1.99 from the BigBoss repo on Cydia. Check here for instructions on how to jailbreak iOS 7.x with evasi0n 7. You can also find out how to purchase and install Cydia tweaks with this guide.