- Evidence suggests that the Pixel 6 series may get face unlock in a future update.
- A commit highlights the feature may require more power draw refinements.
- Face unlock would be a welcome companion to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro’s in-display fingerprint sensor.
The Pixel 6 series is Google’s most feature-packed smartphone line to date, but there was one glaring feature omission at launch. Despite several rumors highlighting the possible return of face unlock support to the flagships, neither Pixel 6 device featured it. However, this seemingly doesn’t mean Google isn’t still working on the feature.
According to developer Freak07 (h/t XDA-Developers), there’s still evidence that face unlock is in the works lurking within a commit published back in July. Specifically mentioning “face unlock” and the Tensor SoC’s “gs101” internal name, the commit stresses that there’s currently a power usage issue with the feature. Although it’s seemingly functional, the commit suggests face unlock is overutilizing CPU resources when not required, potentially impacting battery life. This could be one of the reasons Google decided to forego face unlock on the Pixel 6 series on launch day.