14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has prepared a new set of options for iOS 11 in terms of notification management, and it looks like the iPhone X will come with a welcome bonus that relies on the facial recognition cameras.
First and foremost, just like in previous versions, with iOS 11 both old and new iPhone models can hide the content of lock screen notifications, displaying only the app that’s generating them. In other words, if someone sends you a message on iMessage, you only see a notification sent by iMessage, but without actually previewing the content of the message or the sender information.
This comes in particularly handy for increased privacy on iPhones, and users can configure the options from Settings > Notifications > Show Previews, with 3 settings available, namely always, when unlocked, and never.
Increased notification privacy
But thanks to the facial recognition cameras, the iPhone X will be able to enhance this feature even further, making it possible to block the content of the notification should someone else be looking at the screen.
This means that when a person whose face was not enrolled in Face ID looks at your iPhone X, the facial recognition camera automatically detects they’re not authorized to use the device and it instantly hides notification content, according to a report from PA.
Earlier this year, developer Guilherme Rambo discovered code in iOS builds that hinted at more notification controls with facial recognition. Basically, the iPhone X could be able to suppress notifications sound if you’re looking at it, and one such example is that the device could automatically switch to silent when the phone is ringing and you’re looking at the screen.
Since the code is already there, it means the iPhone X should already be able to do this, though it’s not clear if Apple will enable this feature by default, do it at a later time, or actually keep it off and never release it to users.