You did not type in anything there.

Let's do it again.

Okay, I'm thinking this scene needs a bit of explaining.

So you've probably noticed we're all wearing masks because, well…

You must now wear a mask.

A mask.

Everywhere you go.

But one slight problem I realized.

Apple's face unlock feature, AKA Face ID, doesn't let you into your phone when a mask is covering your nose and mouth.

Mask number one.

Believe me, I've tried many, many masks.

This is a handmade mask.

And tried retraining the whole system many, many times.

Nope, not letting me in.

That's when I came across.

I'm Danielle Baskin.

And what do you do?

I'm a product designer.

What are you talking about with me today?

Back in February, Danielle had the funny idea to print faces on masks because she had heard about that Face ID and mask issue.

There was just one slight problem with those.

It turns out though that Face ID actually uses depth instead of an image, so I ended up making a mask that actually has a contour of your face that can work with Face ID.

And does that work?

Yes, it works.

I had to see it to believe it.

And since I'm sheltering in place in New Jersey and Danielle is in San Francisco, I made her demonstrate it via video chat, a lot.

I even made her get out a mirror to make sure I wasn't being played.

Is this good?

That's way better.

Welp, I believe you now.

So this mask isn't exactly easy to make.

First, Danielle had to make a clay form of a nose and mouth.

It wasn't even hers.

Then she made a plastic shell using a vacuum former machine.

When the mask was ready, she enrolled it as an alternate appearance in the Face ID settings on her iPhone.

Apple said in a statement, "Face ID is designed to work with your eyes, nose, and mouth visible."

"Users can still unlock their devices while wearing a mask by entering their passcode."

When I tried to enroll my face using an N-95 mask and these various other cloth masks…

Mask number two.

Three.

Four.

I got an error saying my face was obstructed.

But with Danielle's mask, the true depth camera on the iPhone and the Face ID software appears to recognize the geometry of the face.

In fact, it even works when she has sunglasses on.

Okay, ready?

Yup.

Wow.

This is also different from what many have tried to do.

Okay, fine, I tried to do.

By creating a mask of someone and then attempting to trick the phone, this isn't trickery.

It requires you enroll the mask as one of your faces.

Are you planing to make these and sell these?

What's the plan?

No time soon.

I mean, I'm not, there's a shortage of PPE, so I would not capitalize on making any masks.

If there is a value to making these for people that work in hospitals, I'm interested in developing it.

So yeah, you're not getting one of these soon, which leaves you with two options.

Keep trying to get Face ID to like your current mask.

Look like some sort of bird in this mask.

Or type your password over and over and over.

Yes, with gloves on, which I confirm did not require any special clay molds or special machinery.