The Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro come with both face unlock feature, and an in-display fingerprint scanner. You can use that fingerprint scanner to unlock the device, and make contactless payments, of course.
You can use Pixel 7 Face Unlock feature for making payments… in Europe
The thing is, you cannot do the same with face unlock. We initially thought that the same rule will apply for everyone, but it seems like it does not. Based on a new report, contactless payments by using face unlock are possible in Europe. This information comes from XDA Developers’ Adam Conway. He went to Twitter to share this information, by saying that “you can make up to five unprotected contactless payments before requiring “strong customer authentication” (SCA)”. He also shared a link that confirms it, a link from the European Banking Authority. Does it work in practice, though? Well, Mr. Conway says he tried it out, and that it works just fine. A user in the comments says it does not work for him, however. The issue may be in the way the two of them used the feature.
You may have to do it from the lock screen in order for it to work, though
It seems like Adam Conway paid from the lock screen, without going to the homescreen (‘Skip lock screen’ option has to be disabled). The other user did not, or so it seems. In any case, it’s possible this won’t work for you, but it’s worth giving it a go, if you want to use face unlock as your primary authentication method. Why is this even a problem, why aren’t such payments available everywhere? Well, Google is using the so-called unsecure method for facial scanning. It does not have any additional hardware for face scanning in the phone, or should I say 3D face scanning. Google is using the front-facing camera to do it. It combines that with machine learning, and the Tensor G2 SoC. That is why face unlock doesn’t work best in low-light environments, unlike what Apple has to offer. Apple has some dedicated hardware for face scanning, which is more secure.
