Teardown of next Android Pay reveals facial recognition feature

The next Android Pay update (v1.22) could bring about a new facial recognition feature, according to 9To5Google’s app teardown. Strings of information found within the cashless payment app referred to a new feature called Visual ID.

<string name=”handsfree_consent_subtitle”>Visual ID is a secure way to confirm your identity at participating stores, making it easier to do things like earn loyalty points and redeem rewards.</string>

Currently, the app’s coding strongly implies that Visual ID is crucial for taking part in loyalty programs for stores that have a Visual ID camera, and there’s no hint on Visual ID’s usage for making payments. Privacy-conscious folks might be more assured to know that the Visual ID mugshot cannot be accessed by participating stores – the photos are deleted shortly after capture. As shown below:

<string name=”handsfree_consent_text_identity_text”>“Google creates and stores a face template based on the photo you save during setup. When you’re at a participating store, Visual ID will automatically confirm your identity using facial recognition technology (your face template is compared to the image captured by the in-store Visual ID camera). Images captured by the in-store Visual ID camera can’t be accessed by the store and are deleted shortly after they’re captured. They’re not stored or saved.”</string>

The payment app also uses Bluetooth to detect the user’s location (relative to the store they are at). The facial recognition feature on the Android Pay app seems to replace the discontinued Google Hands Free experimental app.

Source: 9To5Google

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