How to Protect Face ID & Face Unlock in Mobile Apps Using AI

Last updated August 14, 2025 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Detect Face ID & Face Unlock in Mobile apps.

What Are Face ID & Face Unlock Bypass Attacks?

Deepfake Face ID & Face Unlock bypass attacks exploit facial recognition systems by manipulating the camera feed to produce fake biometric images, tricking apps into granting unauthorized access. These attacks are particularly dangerous for banking, secure applications, and apps handling sensitive personal data. By intercepting and modifying facial authentication processes, attackers can bypass robust biometric defenses, enabling unauthorized access to critical functions and sensitive information. The rise of AI-driven deepfake technology makes these attacks increasingly effective and harder to detect. Defending against Face ID bypass is essential for maintaining biometric security, protecting personal data, and ensuring compliance with standards like GDPR.

How Appdome Protects Against Face ID & Face Unlock Bypass Attacks

Appdome’s dynamic Protect Face ID & Face Unlock plugin for Android/iOS identifies deepfake attempts and manipulated camera feeds during biometric authentication. The plugin monitors facial recognition processes for anomalies and exits the app immediately when bypass attempts are detected, notifying the user of the threat. This protection ensures secure biometric authentication, prevents unauthorized access, and prevents account takeovers.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Protect Face ID & Face Unlock Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect Face ID & Face Unlock , you’ll need:

How to Implement Detect Face ID & Face Unlock in Mobile Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Detect Face ID & Face Unlock without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. Mobile App Formats: .ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android
    3. Protect Face ID & Face Unlock is compatible with: Obj-C, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more.
  2. Select the defense: Protect Face ID & Face Unlock.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Protect Face ID & Face Unlock feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Protect Face ID & Face Unlock

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Protect Face ID & Face Unlock feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Protect Face ID & Face Unlock feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Protect Face ID & Face Unlock you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Protect Face ID & Face Unlock.

        Fusion Set applied Protect Face ID & Face Unlock

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Protect Face ID & Face Unlock protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Protect Face ID & Face Unlock feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Anti ATO tab > Deepfake Detection section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Protect Face ID & Face Unlock.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Protect Face ID & Face Unlock as shown below.

        (b) To receive mobile Threat Monitoring, check the ThreatScope™ box as shown below. For more details, see our knowledge base article on ThreatScope™ Mobile XTM.
        Protect Face ID & Face Unlock option

        Figure 4: Selecting Detect Face ID & Face Unlock

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Protect Face ID & Face Unlock:
        1. Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense

          If the Threat-Events™ setting is not selected. Appdome will detect and defend user and app by enforcing Protect Face ID & Face Unlock.

        2. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects a hook on a camera-related Java method and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Detect Protect Face ID & Face Unlock Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

        3. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Face ID & Face Unlock (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Detect Protect Face ID & Face Unlock Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Protect Face ID & Face Unlock:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s Face ID & Face Unlock

        4. Protect Face ID & Face Unlock Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI to generate a unique code each time Protect Face ID & Face Unlock is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Protect Face ID & Face Unlock protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Protect Face ID & Face Unlock feature in Mobile Apps

    After building Protect Face ID & Face Unlock, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Protect Face ID & Face Unlock protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Protect Face ID & Face Unlock protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Protect Face ID & Face Unlock shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Protect Face ID & Face Unlock has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Protect Face ID & Face Unlock and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Face ID & Face Unlock Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Face ID & Face Unlock is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Face ID & Face Unlock in Mobile Apps, use AddObserverForName in Notification Center, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Face ID & Face Unlock shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Face ID & Face Unlock are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Detect Face ID & Face Unlock Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Protect Face ID & Face Unlock
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Detecting Face ID & Face Unlock Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME FaceIDBypassDetected
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF 6939
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
Timestamp The exact time the threat event was triggered, recorded in milliseconds since epoch
message Message displayed for the user on event
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Mobile developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Mobile applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Face ID & Face Unlock is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Mobile apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Protect Face ID & Face Unlock:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Mobile Apps by using Protect Face ID & Face Unlock. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Protect Face ID & Face Unlock

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

Want a Demo?

Deepfake Detection

TomWe're here to help
We'll get back to you in 24 hours to schedule your demo.

Search Appdome Solutions

Search
Image Blog 2 Text

Device Binding in the Age of AI

For years, fraud prevention solutions have tried to use Device IDs to bind (or link) a user’s account or session to a specific device to prevent unauthorized access from other devices. However, until recently, Device IDs lacked persistence and the broad threat context needed to stop fraud and ATOs …