History Main / FacialRecognitionSoftware

** The iPhone and iPad has facial unlock since the [=iPhone=] X and third generation [=iPad=] Pro. Apple markets the feature as "Face ID". Many premium Android phones and tablets running Android 10 and newer has the feature as well. Apple and Google also has the [[UsefulNotes/ApplicationProgrammingInterface API]] exposed so other apps too can take advantage of the feature.

* Facial recognition over a small database of contacts is accessible enough that Website/{{Facebook}} and Google's Picasa does it fairly routinely, sometimes alarmingly on people in the background that you didn't even notice when taking the picture. Same with [[UsefulNotes/MacOS Apple's]] [=iPhoto=]. However, if a face is not known or recognized with a known person, it will ask you to name the person and it will try to match similar faces. It will also allow you to reject faces that aren't actually the person.

* Averted in ''Series/{{Castle}}''; the title character expects a "facial recognition database", only to be presented with three big piles of paper photos. But, in later episodes, the CIA ''does'' have a magical facial recognition computer, flickering photos and all. That's not the only magic-tech the CIA has at its disposal.

* Subverted in the hard-SF series ''ComicBook/TheFuse''. The software exists, but criminals and political extremists are able to evade it by wearing "dazzle" makeup, which disrupts the planes of the face.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* ''[[WesternAnimation/CoCo Coco]]'' (pictured above) uses this to let the skeletons in the Land of the Dead visit their relatives in the living world.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' has the Joes identify the Baroness by running a picture of her face against an image library of ''every person in the world''... a library secretly gathered by surreptitiously copying every digital photograph ever taken. Wait.. who are the [[BigBrotherIsWatching bad guys]] again?
* Used in ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' by the President's security detail, when Lady Jaye attempts to infiltrate a fundraising event.
* Abused in ''Film/DejaVu2006''. The police use facial recognition software to locate a ''bag''! At least one guy comments that it had never been tried before but yes, it produces an exact match from all the bags people carry around in New Orleans. Although Denzel's character wasn't surprised when he asked if they had FRS and the man casually replied "yeah" considering they have access to... you know... have the US's power grid and a few million dollars (only a few) just to... you know.. look in the past, so they would have experimental facial recognition software as well.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Batman tries scanning the Joker's facial structure with such software, [[UnPerson but it evidently doesn't prove conclusive]].
* Done hilariously in ''Film/FastFive'' where special agents run a picture from a stop light camera through a Facial Recognition System. They get a perfect match. On a guy wearing a ski mask.
* ''Film/AViewToAKill'' has an example from before this trope was popularized. Suspecting Bond isn't the UpperClassTwit he's pretending to be, [[BigBad Zorin]] invites Bond to his office for a private discussion, where a hidden camera is linked to a KGB database. Zorn even gets Bond to look to the side (at a nearby painting) so the camera can get a profile shot of his face.

* In ''[[Film/TheAssignment1997 The Assignment]]'' (1997), two men wear [[BeardnessProtectionProgram fake beards]] and wigs when [[OvertRendezvous meeting in an East Berlin café]]. The KGB photograph the meeting and use facial recognition software to remove the beards and match their faces with those of terrorist Carlos the Jackal (currently under KGB protection) and a known CIA agent. [[BatmanGambit This was the CIA's plan all along]]; 'Carlos' is actually a {{doppelganger}} and the fake beards make the meeting look suspicious while increasing the chance that the computer will give a false positive result.

* Used in the book ''The Traveler'', with faces being recognized from surveillance cameras in sidewalks, crowded plazas, and even ATM cameras- from someone not using the ATM.

* ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel''. While they are having lunch in a community kitchen crowded with hundreds of people, Elijah Baley is informed by his robot partner Daneel Olivaw not only that they're BeingWatched, but that several of the people doing so took part in an anti-robot demonstration that they broke up the day before. Possibly an UrExample as Asimov wrote the tale [[TechnologyMarchesOn before he realised the importance of software over hardware]].

* ''Series/Titans2018''. In "Lazarus", Jason Todd is with a friend who doesn't know his SecretIdentity. She points out a gang recruiter for the Joker and he takes his photo with his mobile phone, whereupon the Wayne tech in the phone instantly pulls up the man's identity and criminal record, to his friend's puzzlement as to how Jason would know all this.
* This happens in pretty much every episode of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. {{Hand Wave}}d by the application of advanced alien technology and secret government databases.
* Ditto ''Series/{{Bones}}''. The series even has an expert whose main duty is to artistically or holographically recreate faces.

* After an encounter with an unknown terrorist ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' had its computers running facial recognition software for several episodes - it ultimately took a third of the season, and they only ID'ed the man by significantly reducing the set of people to compare the image against. Even when the plot was completely unrelated you could see the comparisons being run on the monitors in the background - apparently those processes are never minimized. Probably they have to be on screen to work. Maybe it's their screensaver.

* Averted in ''Series/{{Castle}}''; the title character expects a "facial recognition database", only to be presented with three big piles of paper photos. But, in later episodes, the CIA ''does'' have a magical facial recognition computer, flickering photos and all. That's not the only magic-tech the CIA has at its disposal.
* ''Series/BurnNotice'':
** An episode falls somewhere between this trope and reality on facial recognition software. Michael is breaking into a building (surprise surprise) which uses facial recognition software as a security measure -- it compares your face to a database photo and lets you in if it likes what it sees. But it's not perfect; Michael foxes the system by... holding up a printed photo of an employee in front of his face. A literal PaperThinDisguise.[[note]]This isn't terribly far off of reality, unfortunately. In a similar vein, ''Series/MythBusters'' was once able to open a fingerprint-scanning lock by pressing a photocopy of the proper print against it.[[/note]]
** Another episode had Madeline and Fiona talk their way into looking at DMV photos. Michael, in a voice-over, mentions that it would be difficult to use facial recognition software on a picture where the person is not looking directly at the camera. Fortunately, DMV photos are taken with this in mind, so they're able to download a fairly small list of suspects.
%%* Used constantly on ''Series/{{Fringe}}''.
* On an episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'', Garcia uses this, plus her standard OmniscientDatabase, to identify every passenger on a train using grainy security camera footage.

* One episode of Series/{{CSI}} had the team using facial recognition software to find a killer in a casino. But wouldn't you know it? He was one of three identical people (all split from the same embryo and given to different families via in vitro fertilization, taking identical twins to a new level) so they kept getting false positives, despite the computer being utterly perfect. Then they realize that there's a fourth involved! [[spoiler: It's the victim's 12-year-old son. The computer makes a completely definitive match despite the fact that the others were in their 30's.]]

* One episode of ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' implies that the titular agency has a ''really'' good program for this. May uses it to track down a man who's been missing for more than twenty years, because the computer was able to recognize him when he coincidentally appeared in the background of a vacation photo that some random civilian posted on a social networking site.
* ''Series/Batwoman2019''
** When a villain uses LatexPerfection to impersonate Commander Jacob Kane, Luke Fox uses a facial recognition program to see if he can penetrate his disguise. This doesn't work, but the software ''does'' list the guard the fake Kane is talking to as a known criminal, causing Luke to [[OhCrap realise that all the guards are actually members of the villain's gang.]]
** In "Grinning From Ear To Ear", Luke scans a picture of a girl taken from a college yearbook and comes up blank. Turns out the girl had cosmetic surgery that altered her appearance enough to fool the software program. So Batwoman just [[BoringButPractical tears out the picture and shows it to her stepsister Mary]] who recognizes her instantly as a celebrity makeover model.
-->'''Kate:''' I'm guessing the reason why her face stumped your Bat-tech is because that's not her nose anymore... or her chin.
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Felicity Smoak has hacked the FBI's facial recognition software and uses it for the purposes of Team Arrow (no mention is made of why the Starling City police don't avail themselves of FBI resources). It appears to be infallible and instantaneous [[RuleOfDrama when the plot requires]], but in "Seeing Red" she has difficulty tracking a rogue Roy Harper because he's wearing a hoodie, and realises that's why the Arrow goes InTheHood for his own vigilante activities.
* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. Micro is able to locate Frank Castle by waiting till he conducts one of his trademark vigilante massacres, getting CCTV footage from the scene and using facial and gait analysis to track Frank anywhere in New York. Frank is [[NotSoStoic freaking out]] until he works out what's happening, cuts his hair and starts walking with a limp.
* In ''Series/TheMandalorian'' Chapter 15: "The Believer," Din Djarin must have his face scanned in exchange for the coordinates of Moff Gideon's Light Cruiser. [[spoiler:Since no living thing had seen Din's face since before he became a Mandalorian, the computer doesn't find his unmasked adult visage in the database of the Imperials' enemies, granting him access to the coordinates.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', The Repcomm uses this to ensure that only employees are present in building. However, you can enlist your own face as Mrs. Miller, which cause robots to let you clear the building.

* ''Film/TheBatman2022''. Batman has a pair of contact lenses that can act as hi-definition cameras, even being able to record sound. [[EyeSpy He lends them to Selina Kyle]] so he can see through her eyes and get facial recognition data on the customers in [[BadGuyBar -44 Below]]. Even Batman is shocked when he sees that along with various mobsters, there are also senior city officials including members of the District Attorney's Office. The problem is that to get a proper reading Selina has to give them a HeldGaze which, as she points out, is open to misinterpretation.

* ''Film/TheBatman2022''. Batman has a pair of contact lenses that can act as hi-definition cameras, even being able to record sound. [[EyeSpy He lends them to Selina Kyle]] so he can see through her eyes and get facial recognition data on the customers in [[BadGuyBar -44 Below]]. Even Batman is shocked when he sees that along with various mobsters, there are also senior city officials including members of the District Attorney's Office.

->''"Triela slowed only when her cyborg senses detected others ahead. She answered their cheerful greetings in Italian or German or French, comparing skin texture and facial construction against blurred images captured on CCTV in the aftermath of bomb atrocities, their acoustic pattern to voices plucked from the airwaves by the AISI."''

->''Triela slowed only when her cyborg senses detected others ahead. She answered their cheerful greetings in Italian or German or French, comparing skin texture and facial construction against blurred images captured on CCTV in the aftermath of bomb atrocities, their acoustic pattern to voices plucked from the airwaves by the AISI.''

** This is starting to spread to smartphones as well. The iPhone and iPad has facial unlock since the [=iPhone=] X and third generation [=iPad=] Pro, and many premium Android phones running Android 10 and newer has the feature as well. Apple and Google also has the [[UsefulNotes/ApplicationProgrammingInterface API]] exposed so other apps too can take advantage of the feature.