Face unlock on bitcoin wallet devices

[_act_]

It is on this forum that I knew using fingerprint to unlock wallet device is not good, specifically mobile phones. We know already that we should not have too much bitcoin on a mobile wallet. Let us assume that you have little amount of bitcoin on a mobile bitcoin wallet like Electrum or Bluewallet but you still want security.

Fingerprint is not secure, what about face unlock?

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[OmegaStarScream]

I remember making a topic about this a couple of years ago. I thought that the biometric lock was actually encrypting the wallet. Apparently it doesn't, it just protect the app on a UI level. Regardless, biometrics are probably  not the way to go by it. My advice here would be to just set a good password.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5215292.0

[Bureau]

Security features on a mobile Bitcoin wallet are integrated using the mobile device security features. IMO if you are using a good device like iPhone or Samsung Galaxy then face unlock or fingerprint scanner should not be an issue. As we know those two brands have the best security & safety feature. You still can add pin code with the finger print scanner to add an extra layer of security. I haven't seen any mobile wallet integrating face unlock feature yet. If you know such a mobile wallet then do share here.

[Findingnemo]

The fingerprint is not secure, what about face unlock?

Face lock is even less secure than the fingerprint, There are instances about facial recognition already proven that face ID can be fooled by pictures and even someone with facial similarities can access your device which is unlikely to happen with a fingerprint scanner because it's more complicated to tamper but still possible to replicate.

But I would say none of them are secure when it comes versus good a password like a combination of uppercase, lowercase, and special characters but definitely not a pin which is either four or 6 digits in most of the wallets.

In the worst-case scenario if someone tries to rob your Bitcoin wallet and they catch you so imagine accessing the wallet with biometrics is just simple they can touch your thumb or show it towards your face but if its a password they can't access it unless you spill.

[LoyceMobile]

You're talking about a little amount. In that case, I wouldn't use any additional security, just keep your phone (physically) secure.

If I lose my phone, that costs a lot more to replace than the small amount of Bitcoin on it.

[avp2306]

It is on this forum that I knew using fingerprint to unlock wallet device is not good, specifically mobile phones. We know already that we should not have too much bitcoin on a mobile wallet. Let us assume that you have little amount of bitcoin on a mobile bitcoin wallet like Electrum or Bluewallet but you still want security.

Fingerprint is not secure, what about face unlock?

Do we really need it? For me not necessary needed to have.

Since you just need to secure your wallet and for that nothing will happen to you. If you are afraid on your balance stored because you are participating on many investment or other risky actions then try to have separate device and have dummy wallet since from doing this I'm sure that you are much secured for any hackings or other more attacks.

[rachael9385]

In this case I prefer the fingerprint sensor security than the face unlock security, anything might happen to the investor things like an accidents that might cause the damages of hes or her face and if anything happens the person's face the wallet will never opens again because the face has changed structure maybe from right to left   .
Fingerprints can be somhow good because any Bitcoin wallet that have fingerprints features you can add more than one finger like one from right and the other from left.

[Despairo]

I'd say anything that involved with human creature is never be safe since there's a risk involved like lost finger, maturity etc that can change your current body. There's also a risk about privacy since the software will record everything. Someone who can get the information can use AI or create 3D version and then use 3D print generator to create same alike person.

[tech30338]

It is on this forum that I knew using fingerprint to unlock wallet device is not good, specifically mobile phones. We know already that we should not have too much bitcoin on a mobile wallet. Let us assume that you have little amount of bitcoin on a mobile bitcoin wallet like Electrum or Bluewallet but you still want security.

Fingerprint is not secure, what about face unlock?

The bad thing about the face and fingerprint to unlock your wallet is if your mobile phone has been compromise, and there is a malware this could steal those fingerprint and face info that is store in your mobile phone, another thing is if your wallet is set to fingerprint what if something happen to your hand or face, remember that it will not recognize since there is damage, also I have tried before on other facial I'm not sure about other security that uses face recognition but picture does work, but i have tried it before and it works.
Also i recommend that never use your phone as wallet for bitcoin, too dangerous specially android.
But if other users really want to use mobile, there is always a risk on what we do, all we can do is lessen those things that will compromise our wallet.

[BlackBoss_]

Fingerprint is not secure, what about face unlock?

With biometrics lock, unlock you will have an ace under your sleeve like a password, pin code to unlock your mobile phones when biometrics does not work.

Biometrics or password, pin code only lock your phone access, it does not lock /encrypt your wallet file. It does not directly protect your wallet file.

With wallet file, always use strong password to protect its access and your bitcoin.

Fingerprint sensor and scanner not working on Samsung.

[un_rank]

Let us assume that you have little amount of bitcoin on a mobile bitcoin wallet like Electrum or Bluewallet but you still want security.

Then use a strong password.
A highly secure password provides excellent level of security against unauthorized access and does not need to be supported by bio-metric security like face unlock or finger print.

Security is more about what practices you use than the wallet security itself. If you click on random links, download from unverified source and you do not verify the signature (https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/), or you adopt other unsafe practices, you will get hacked notwithstanding what security access system you use.P.S. Both face ID and finger print are terrible for safety.

- Jay -

[Yamane_Keto]

The name tells us the details that it is Face unlock, meaning that it is at the same level as locking the application using a password or fingerprint, but Face makes customizing the wallet unlock linked to a few users.

The words unlock and lock do not mean encrypting the wallet,  hackers can easily steal your money completely if you locked the application with a password, but it protects you from physical attacks if your device is stolen.
Encrypting the wallet with a password provides a layer of security so that even if hackers gain access to a device, they still need the password to be able to spend coins.

Privacy Warning: Pictures of your face may be taken, stored and sent to different servers, so activating the face lock option is bad for privacy.

[Lucius]

I had the opportunity to log in to my laptop almost 15 years ago using facial recognition technology, and I gave it up very quickly because it caused me more problems than benefits, and after that I never used such a method of protection on a smartphone. I agree that this method is even less secure than fingerprint protection, but also both methods can be very easily abused in various situations. Whether it is a physical attack in which the attacker will unlock your device without any problems, or one of your family members will use your face or finger while you are sleeping and peek into your device.

When it comes to mobile wallets, we always have the option of additional protection for each app on the device with a PIN or additional password, so that even if someone manages to unlock the device, they still cannot access our wallet without additional actions.

Therefore, I would recommend for everyone who uses Android to additionally protect all apps that contain sensitive information - and information on how to do this on different devices can be found at the following link -> How to Lock Apps on Android Phones in 2023.

[Nwada001]

Fingerprint is not secure, what about face unlock?

Both finger prints and those of face unlock are entirely unsecure, especially on a device that contains your wallet holdings. Password combinations have always been proven to be the best means of security.

Face unlock and that of finger print are just fast means of unlocking one's device, saving you the stress of not typing your passwords from beginning to end, but what has an advantage has a high disadvantage most times. Unless one activates both fingerprint and face unlock on their device, they should never give it access to their wallets. Wallets always make it optional, not a compulsory or mandatory kind of thing.

You can have finger print and face unlock but still not use them on your wallet app, and you can only use your wallet combination pin to access your wallet combination. But if phone security is compromised, it's only a matter of time before the wallet becomes compromised, as with a phone password, anything can be activated and modified.

[Who is John Galt?]

Fingerprint is not secure, what about face unlock?

If you have enough bitcoins that an attacker purposefully wants to get exactly them, in my opinion it is better not to have any protection methods that are personally tied to you. Because then there is a higher risk that an attacker will not only steal the funds, but also harm you in order to gain access to them. For me, it's better if they try to guess the password than cut off my fingers.

As for the accidental loss of the phone, I would say that a regular password is enough. It is unlikely to be hacked quickly anyway, and as soon as you discover the loss, you will have time to transfer all funds to a new, not compromised address.

[icalical]

If you are talking about iOS 3D Face Id then it's technically safer than fingerprint, the case is different with 2D face ID in most of android phone is not better or in some case it's less secure than fingerprint. But I wouldn't recommend using solely biometric security for any wallet, the biometric data still can be stolen. Use multiple layers of security, Password, App Generated 2FA, email generated 2FA, if a lot of money is stored in a mobile wallet, then I wouldn't hesitate to use all of those security, tho I rarely store many fund in my mobile wallet.

[_act_]

Do we really need it? For me not necessary needed to have.

This is only fun for me, I was expecting such replies, the best are pin and password.

Since you just need to secure your wallet and for that nothing will happen to you. If you are afraid on your balance stored because you are participating on many investment or other risky actions then try to have separate device and have dummy wallet since from doing this I'm sure that you are much secured for any hackings or other more attacks.

It would be better to make an airgapped device and use a wallet you generated on it. If you can not do that, get yourself a hardware wallet for huge amount of coins to hold.

I'd say anything that involved with human creature is never be safe since there's a risk involved like lost finger, maturity etc that can change your current body. There's also a risk about privacy since the software will record everything. Someone who can get the information can use AI or create 3D version and then use 3D print generator to create same alike person.

I take the picture of myself but it does not work, using AI or anything like that will likely fail.

Findingnemo post has talked about the most important thing, I too have heard before that a brother was able to unlock his brother phone with face unlike with his face which is what I see to be more reason we should not use face unlock as a security.

Another reason is that if the person is compromised, only what that is needed to unlock his phone is his face for easy entry.

[Crypt0Gore]

Fingerprint is more secured than face recognition methods to unlocking your smartphones, and all together, it's not safe to rely on both when you have some Bitcoin in your mobile wallet, it's better to invest on a hardware wallet and move your Bitcoin out of your mobile wallet into the hardware wallet.

Mobile wallets are good for daily transactions and I only leave some few hundreds in dollars worth of Bitcoin on such wallets, even if something happens it's just $100+ worth of Bitcoin anyway.

Some people are trying so hard to avoid investing on a hardware wallet, my advice is it's not worth the risk, hardware wallet is the best place to keep your Bitcoin for long term, forget face ID locks and fingerprint security.

[DYING_S0UL]

I wouldn't use something what can be easily duplicated. Just look at the world. We are in the era of AI. We can make anything with just a piece of information. Face unlock! Seriously? I think it's the worst kind of security. I wouldn't dare use something like that. We can even make our face look like what we would be like in 10 years. These are just surface level threats. & the real question is do we really need it? I don't think so. The best security is being offline. If we could make a fully offline device then it would be the most secure. (Which I think we already have)

[Doan9269]

It is on this forum that I knew using fingerprint to unlock wallet device is not good, specifically mobile phones. We know already that we should not have too much bitcoin on a mobile wallet. Let us assume that you have little amount of bitcoin on a mobile bitcoin wallet like Electrum or Bluewallet but you still want security.

Fingerprint is not secure, what about face unlock?

They are almost thesame because don't be surprised that when you're sleeping someone can just have access to your phone and place the phone right to your face to get unlocked, any security measures that does not work with how we can secure our private keys is less effective, using password, biometrics or face unlocked features are just device and apps sensitive, they don't secure our funds on the wallet, if they have any of our private keys, they don't need the apps security measures we use before they can steal from us, using a centralized exchange, hot or mobile wallets and applying a security means on them is not secured by any way at all, we are already vulnerable no matter the security measures we take on them.