Future iPhones Could Scan the Veins Beneath Your Face, Apple Patent Suggests

Apple has been cede a patent , first file in 2015 , that could lead to huge enhancements in the iPhone ’s biometric powers by using “ pulsed radiation ” to peer into users ’ vena . A relatively recent wafture of similar patent of invention could designate to a new sub - epidermal standard in future generations of smartphones and clothing .

Spotted byApple Insider , the iPhone maker was give a patent of invention called “ Vein imaging using detection of pulsed radiation , ” which theorizes using infrared visible light to enamor images of the vein beneath someone ’s skin .

The vein - certification technology could be used alongside Face ID , which unlock iPhones using brass - recognition engineering science . “ A complex shape of ancestry vas run close beneath the skin of the face , and spying of this pattern under infrared illumination could be used , for example , to enhance the reliability of facial authentication , ” the letters patent translate .

Photo: Gizmodo (Sam Rutherford)

As Apple Insider hypothesizes , vein - based biometrics could help oneself solve the iPhone X ’s “ twin trouble . ” look ID boasts an impressively low false - positive rate , but can be fooled by identical twins . Vein structure is unique , even among Twin , and would theoretically lick the problem .

This is n’t the first time technical school companies have pursued vein - ground biometrics . In 2013 , Googlefiled a patentfor a Google Glass - similar devices capable of “ authenticate the substance abuser based , on each of the iris figure , the retina image , and the optic vein images both individually and in combination . ” Samsung similarly publish a patent of invention in 2016 forvein - recognizing smartwatches , though Apple may be unique in exploring vein recognition in compounding with face credit in smartphones .

Of course , it ’s only a patent , which is a prospicient means from confirmation that Apple is even deal the tech in the close future tense . Applehas previously exploredsmartphone features that would permit users ’ instant to unlock their phonesas early as 2010 .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.