Patrick Foye, the CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook – received by CNN – asking the tech company to develop better Face ID technology so people do not have to remove their face masks off to unlock their phones while driving.
“We have observed customers removing their masks to unlock their iPhones with Face ID to use their devices for other purposes, while standing on the platform and riding with our buses, subways and commuter tracks,” Foye wrote in the letter to Cook, dated August 7, 2020.
“We urge Apple to accelerate the deployment of new technologies and solutions that will further protect customers during the COVID-19 era.”
In an email to CNN, an Apple spokesman said “there is nothing more important to us than the health and safety of our customers.”
The update was intended to eliminate the few seconds delay when users would wear mask while trying to use Face ID, and the phone would attempt to search the full face before finally bringing users to the password screen.
“To help reduce the transmission of COVID-19, we’ve simplified the unlocking process for people wearing masks with an update to Face ID in iOS 13.5 that automatically presents the password field after swiping the bottom of the Lock screen, “an Apple spokesman said in the statement.
The company said last year that it also introduced Apple Pay Express Transit in New York City “so people can walk on select subway lines and buses by holding their iPhone and Apple Watch near an OMNY reader without having to charge their device. wake up or use Face ID. “
Foye said the password unlock feature is not enough.
“We understand security is of paramount importance, and we share this value. While Apple has enabled the password unlock feature to appear on the user’s screen much sooner if Face ID does not unlock the device, we ask Apple to efforts to take it a step further, “he wrote. “As more customers return to mass transit, not just in New York, but around the world, we need a solution that works for everyone.”
New York coronavirus indicators remain stable, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday. Twenty-one people were admitted to hospitals Monday, 297 individuals remain in the ICU in the New York City Health & Hospital system, and the daily positivity rate in the city remains at 2%. All three of those indicators are below the threshold.
CNN’s Brian Fung and Elizabeth Hartfield have contributed to this report.
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