With its recent acquisition of the Israeli start-up, RealFace, specializing in facial recognition, Apple gets hold of new, more advanced technology than currently available for sorting and searching photos on its devices. RealFace technology could also allow Apple to develop a new biometric tool to unlock devices by identifying users' faces.
RealFace specializes in developing artificial intelligence (AI) based facial recognition software. Its first consumer application, Pickeez, can find all the photos of a given person on a smartphone or in a Facebook folder and can even pick the best shots. On the firm's website (not accessible at the time of writing), RealFace claims to offer the highest levels of authentication and security currently available.
With this kind of technology, Apple will undoubtedly be able to improve the facial recognition function in its "Photos" app and add new functions for creating custom folders. However, the acquisition of RealFace could bring more spectacular functionality, such as a facial recognition system to unlock devices (iPhone, iPad, laptop) by identifying the user, complementing or even replacing the current fingerprint reader. This potential development also lends weight to the rumored removal of the iPhone "Home" button to boost the size of the touchscreen.
Apple paid an undisclosed amount for the start-up, created in 2014 and with around 10 employees.
