Google Pixel 4's face unlock will get more secure but not straight away

The Pixel 4 and 4 XL are Google's first smartphones to have a face unlocking security feature similar to Apple's Face ID, but they have a pretty glaring omission — the phone can be unlocked by scanning the owner's face when you're asleep, which obviously isn't very secure.

Now, according to The Verge, Google has promised to fix the issue, albeit the timeline is quite loose: "in the coming months."

Unlike the new Pixels, Apple's iPhones have a toggle for this, allowing you to set whether you want the phone to require your attention — meaning your eyes have to be open and looking at the screen — or not.

Google told The Verge it's essentially been working on the same thing: "an option for users to require their eyes to be open to unlock the phone."

Despite the lack of this feature, Google claims that the phone still offers good protection, for example, it is "resilient" to unlock attempts with a mask. However, anyone worried that someone might take their phone and use their sleeping face to unlock it, should probably use a password instead.

There's another security feature that helps remedy this. It's called "lockdown," and it temporarily turns off fingerprint or face recognition unlocking (as well a notifications). Google's explanation of the feature and directions on how to turn it on are here.