Apple May Soon Add Face ID To Macs With A Smart Auto-Wake Feature

Apple’s Face ID made its debut on iPhones back in 2017 and also found its way into iPads in 2018. While Macs haven’t got it yet, it shouldn’t be long before you see start seeing it.Why? Well, as per a report by 9to5Mac, the US Patent and Trademark Office has now finally awarded Apple with a new patent titled “Presence Sensing,” that details a smarter version of Face ID for Macs with a smart auto-wake feature.

Apple’s invention could use the Mac’s camera to do avoid timing-out into sleep mode when there’s someone in front of the machine. The intelligent system will also prevent Macs from going into the sleep mode if the user is conducting a non-input based activity such as reading a news story or listening to some audio.
Normally, it is quite exasperating for users to wake the machine again after it detects no activity for a predetermined amount of time, even if the user is in fact actively viewing or listening to music or a podcast.

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Ben Lovejoy in his report for 9To5Mac also points out that even though Apple uses the term ‘computing device’ in its filing, which could even apply equally to an iPhone or iPad, the patent is illustrated with a drawing of a computer. So yes, we have visual cues telling us that FaceID is going to features on Macs very soon.

Now, we know that all patents don’t necessarily become a reality soon, which means that we will have to wait for Apple’s cue. From a hardware standpoint, Face ID for Macs does seem like a simple addition for Apple as the notebooks already have a front-facing camera and they also have the T2 security chip which will keep the data secure.