Pixel 11 leak says Google infrared Face Unlock upgrade won't arrive yet
A Pixel 11 leak says Google’s infrared Face Unlock upgrade still is not ready, pushing back the Face ID-style fix many buyers expected.
Google’s next big biometric step for Pixel phones now looks delayed, leaving the company’s long-running face unlock gap in place for another generation. A fresh Pixel 11 leak says the infrared Face Unlock upgrade known internally as Project Toscana is not ready for release and is unlikely to land on the Pixel 11 lineup.
That matters because Google has already spent years trying to make facial authentication feel more trustworthy on Pixel devices. Google Help says Face Unlock is available on Pixel 7 and later, including Pixel Fold, and that Pixel 8 and later can use it to verify identity for app sign-ins and purchases. At the Pixel 8 launch, Google said Face Unlock on Pixel 8 meets the highest Android biometric class, a standard Android Open Source Project defines as Class 3, the strongest tier.
The appeal of infrared face unlock is straightforward: it is meant to move facial recognition beyond a simple software-only camera scan and into a more secure hardware-backed system that can support sensitive actions like payments and app access. That is the kind of capability Pixel users have watched Apple deliver with Face ID for years, and it is the sort of upgrade many believed would finally close one of the most visible security gaps between the two phone lines.
Google has tried this road before. The Pixel 4 series used radar sensors and infrared cameras for 3D facial recognition, and while it worked well, Google abandoned the approach a year later. Earlier reporting on Project Toscana suggested Google was again working on a more advanced face-unlock system, though the exact technology remained unconfirmed. The new leak says that effort is still not mature enough to ship on the Pixel 11.
The setback also points to where Google may be putting its chips instead. The leak ties the Pixel 11 family to Tensor G6, major camera hardware changes, and the possibility of a small RGB LED array in the camera bar. It also suggests Google may remove the temperature sensor that debuted on the Pixel 8 Pro, a feature Google promoted for scanning the temperature of objects and, after FDA approval, potentially body temperature. That sensor was one of the more unusual hardware bets Google made last cycle, and its possible removal would mark another notable redesign.
Taken together, the rumor suggests a familiar Pixel trade-off: photography, efficiency and design tweaks may be moving ahead of the headline biometric breakthrough buyers were expecting. For users who hoped Face Unlock would finally become a true security feature instead of a convenience, the message is plain. Google is still not ready to ship that promise.
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