Hacking Face ID, the facial recognition system built into Apple’s iPhone X, isn’t easy. Unless, it turns out, you’re a very specific hacker—say, a rare 10-year-old kid, trying to break into the phone of whichever of your parents looks the most like you.
Attaullah Malik and Sana Sherwani made that discovery earlier this month, when their fifth-grade son, Ammar Malik, walked into the bedroom of their Staten Island home to admire their new pair of iPhone Xs just after they’d set up Face ID. “There’s no way you’re getting access to this phone,” the older Malik remembers his wife telling her son, in a half-joking show of strictness.
Malik offered to let Ammar look at his phone instead, but the boy picked up his mother’s, not knowing which was which. And a split second after he looked at it, the phone unlocked.
The parents were shocked. Ten-year-old Ammar thought it was hilarious.
