In the days leading up to the Pixel 6 series launch last year, we learned quite a bit about Google’s latest flagships. Leaks about the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro showcased their design, confirmed hardware specifications, and even highlighted some of the new software features. While most of these leaks were accurate, leaks suggesting that the Pixel 6 series would feature Face Unlock turned out to be false when Google finally lifted the covers off the devices.
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro launched without Face Unlock support, and Google removed all mentions of the feature from its marketing material. But the company doesn’t seem to have given up on the feature just yet. Late last month, XDA Recognized Developer Freak07 spotted a new change related to the feature in the PowerHAL config file in Android 12 QPR3 Beta 1.1, suggesting that Google was still working on the feature. Now, a Reddit user has spotted the Face Unlock option while setting up their new Pixel 6 Pro.
Credit: u/welp_im_damned
As you can see in the attached image, the Face Unlock option showed up on the “Choose a screen lock” page during the initial setup. Sadly, the user could not set up face unlock during the initial setup, and the feature was not available in the device settings either.
It’s worth mentioning that we’ve not seen any other reports of the feature showing up for users on the stable channel. A user in the comments on the original Reddit thread has also confirmed that it doesn’t appear during the setup process on a Pixel 6 Pro running an Android 12L beta release.
While we’re not sure why the Face Unlock option randomly popped up for just one user, 9to5Google reports that the settings page in question has existed on the Pixel 6 Pro since the initial SD1A.210817.015.A4 (Oct 2021) build. As you’d expect, Google hasn’t released any official information on the matter so far. But we expect the company to make an announcement if or when the feature is ready for primetime.
Source: Reddit
Via: 9to5Google