To keep accounts safe from malicious intruders, having various passwords and authentication steps has become the norm. With that comes an oh-so-common predicament: doing such a good job securing an account that even you can’t get back in.
A new Google feature aims to solve the problem. Today Google announced a new sign-in method: Selfie Video.
Essentially a live video selfie, the feature is designed to help users access their account when they forget their password or don’t have their usual phones and computers readily available, which Google also uses to authenticate logins.
To set it up, users record and follow a series of “guided head movements,” the company explains in the blog post. (You essentially look from side of the screen to the other.)
Then, the next time the user struggles to access their account, they may choose the selfie method to sign in. They take a new selfie video and Google compares it to the one used at the time of setup in order to authenticate the user and that it is a live video.
“We also use our standard security practices to detect and help prevent suspicious sign-in attempts,” the announcement says.
According to Google, the video used to set up the method is stored and encrypted at rest, and may be deleted at any time. This serves as a form of safeguard against unauthorized entities trying to access an account through impersonation attempts like deep fakes or AI-generated content.
Selfie Video is the latest in a growing slate of sign-in methods. The company already supports passkeys, verified recovery accounts, and SMS-based two-factor authentication. But as users store more sensitive information online and bad actors grow more sophisticated, companies are doubling down on account security, particularly biometric authentication that is harder to mimic.
Facial recognition has become a staple for accessing mobile phones since Apple popularized the Face ID feature back in 2017, a step forward from the previous Touch ID method. Microsoft has also leaned into biometric authentication with its Windows Hello face-recognition technology, a built-in feature that allows users to access their PCs. Selfie video uses both face recognition and motion analysis.
But it’s not just companies embracing the adoption; users seem to prefer it, too. According to data from AI-powered access management platform Oloid, roughly 72% of consumers around the globe opt for facial biometrics over passwords for online processes, while 81% of consumers find biometric authentication more secure than alternative methods.