iPhone users horrified after realising what Apple Face ID 'sees'

A handful of Apple customers suffered a severe jump-scare this week after catching wind of what Face ID sees from an iPhone's point of view.

For those in need of a reminder, Face ID technology is a biometric authentication facial-recognition system that was first introduced by Apple in 2017 for its range of products.

The system is most commonly used to unlock devices, to make payments, and to access sensitive data by tracking a person's facial features to confirm it's truly them attempting to gain access.

According to Apple themselves, the innovative technology that enables Face ID to work is 'some of the most advanced hardware and software we’ve ever created'.

A TrueDepth camera accurately captures face data by 'projecting and analysing thousands of invisible dots to create a 3D depth map of your face', while also capturing an infrared image.

The technology tracks a person's facial features (Getty Stock Image)

"A portion of your device’s Neural Engine – protected within the Secure Enclave – transforms the depth map and infrared image into a mathematical representation and compares that representation to the enrolled facial data," the company added.

If you're struggling to wrap your head around the idea that a collection of invisible dots makes up this 3D map, worry not.

One social media user managed to wriggle their way into the system and flip things around, showing their followers what someone inside their iPhone would observe when a person attempts to use Face ID.

The image is entirely greyscale, with only the outlines of the user's strongest facial features visible in an eerie way.

"I hate this so much, thank you," one Instagram user wrote, while another added: "What a horrible day to have eyes."

Some Apple users have been left unnerved by the image (lamKyros69/X)

"Nightmare fuel," a third teased, whilst a fourth joked: "Pack it up y'all. Robots won."

"This is terrifying, bruh," wrote another, as someone else added: "Imagine a short film of this with eerie music."

Apparently, Face ID also automatically adapts to changes in your appearance, such as wearing makeup or growing facial hair.

"If there is a more significant change in your appearance, such as shaving off a full beard, Face ID confirms your identity by using your passcode before it updates your face data," Apple confirmed.

Face ID can therefore be used to work with hats, scarves, glasses, and even masks.

But even if someone was almost your exact doppelgänger, then rest assured that your data would still be safe, as Apple said that there's a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of the tech being duped.

Insider Tech tested this statement by trying to fool it with identical twins, but it didn't work.