How to Make Face Recognition Software

If your company is looking to develop face recognition software, you will need to learn how to build such solutions from scratch. This is exactly what we will explain in this guide — how to make face recognition software.

In this article

1. What is facial recognition software?
2. A brief overview of how facial recognition software works
3. Building facial recognition software
4. Frequently Asked Questions on how to make face recognition software

What is facial recognition software?

A few basics before we start! Facial recognition software belongs to the category of biometric software. This is software that maps people’s facial features. Such software uses mathematical mapping techniques, and stores this data as “faceprints”.

Subsequently, facial recognition software uses deep learning capabilities to compare a digital image with the faceprints that were stored earlier. This way, such software can be used to allow identity verification. You can read more about this in this article on facial recognition.

The benefits of facial recognition software seem to outweigh the privacy concerns surrounding it. A survey conducted a while ago shows that 54.3% of Americans believed that airports should be able to use such software. The global market for facial recognition software will likely grow from $5 billion in 2022 to $19.3 billion by 2032.

Some of the key players in this market include NEC, Aware, Thales, Cognitec Systems, and others.

A brief overview of how facial recognition software works

There are various flavors of facial recognition technology, however, they generally work as follows:

1. It captures your image from a picture or a video.
2. The software reads the geometry of your face, e.g., the distance between eyes, the distance from forehead to chin, etc.
3. It also identifies facial landmarks, and it stores all these data as your facial signature.
4. A database of facial signatures might have many such records, and the software will use deep learning algorithms to find a match in this database.
5. When it finds a match, the software then uses this information to perform further activities, e.g., authenticate you to use a computer system.

Read more about this in What is facial recognition and how does it work?.

Building facial recognition software

The steps to make face recognition software are as follows:

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1. Define the project scope

I recommend that you initially induct a project manager (PM), an IT architect, and business analysts, and define the project scope. You should plan to launch the proposed facial recognition software on the web, Android, and iOS.

Include the important features for facial recognition systems, e.g., database, matching algorithms, privacy, analytics, etc., moreover, pay close attention to scalability.

2. Agree on a project methodology

You need an IT architect to join the PM now, and together they should choose the right methodology for this project. Using the Agile methodology makes sense since you can deploy the facial recognition solution in manageable sprints.

Facial recognition software uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities like computer vision. Agile is suitable for such projects, and you can read about it in “5 ways to improve AI/ML deployments”.

3. Formulate a development approach

The PM and architect should work together and define a development approach, and I recommend the following:

• Use a managed cloud services provider so that you don’t need to manage the IT infrastructure.
• Utilize facial recognition software development tools to expedite the development.
• Enhance the test coverage with test automation aids.

I have explained the value of such an approach in “What is the best development approach to guarantee the success of your app?”.

4. Estimate and plan the project

The PM and architect now need to plan the project including detailed cost estimation. We have useful guidelines that can help, e.g.:

• Read “AI development life cycle: explained” to understand the lifecycle of an AI development project.
• Consult “How much does it cost to develop an AI solution for your company?” to understand how to estimate such a project, by taking into account the manpower, infrastructure, tools, and other costs.

5. Form the complete project team

You now need to form the complete project team, therefore, you need to induct the following roles:

• AI developers with deep learning skills;
• UI designers;
• Web developers with Node.js skills;
• Android developers with Java skills;
• iOS developers with experience in Swift;
• Testers;
• DevOps engineers.

I recommend that you should induct an expert development team since this will likely be a complex project. Read “Dedicated vs Freelance Software Development Teams: A Review” to learn more about this.

6. Sign-up for a managed cloud service

Since you will launch your facial recognition app on the web, Android, and iOS, I recommend that you sign-up for a reputed managed cloud service. I recommend that you use AWS Elastic Beanstalk for developing the web app since you can get the following advantages:

• Elastic Beanstalk is the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) platform from AWS, and it manages the cloud infrastructure, networking, storage, operating system, middleware, and runtime environment. You can focus on development.
• It’s easy to integrate database resources, 3^rd party APIs, and DevOps services when you use Elastic Beanstalk.
• You can easily scale your web app when using Elastic Beanstalk, thanks to its application performance monitoring (APM) and auto-scaling solutions.

You should use AWS Amplify, which is the Mobile-Backend-as-a-Service (MBaaS) platform from AWS, for developing the mobile app. Amplify offers several advantages, e.g.:

• You can focus on the front-end since Amplify manages the cloud infrastructure, persistent storage, etc. This eliminates the need for you to develop and manage the mobile backend.
• Developers can easily integrate 3^rd party APIs when using Amplify, moreover, it’s easy to implement features like user management, security, and push notifications.
• Scaling a mobile app is easier when you use Amplify.

7. Get a development tool for facial recognition software development

You can expedite the project with the help of a development tool, therefore, I recommend that you use Amazon Rekognition, a reputed API solution for image and video recognition. It offers the following features and advantages:

• Your app can identify objects, people, text, scenes, and activities with Amazon Rekognition.
• This API provides highly accurate facial recognition and analysis of images and videos.
• It uses a reliable and scalable deep learning suite of software.
• The API is easy to use, and your team can read “Getting started with Amazon Rekognition” to learn how to use it.
• Amazon Rekognition offers simple integration, and the system learns with new data.
• It’s a fully managed service that offers batch and real-time analysis.
• The API has robust security features.

Facial recognition is a key use case of Amazon Rekognition. Check out the Amazon Rekognition pricing plans.

8. Sign-up for a bulk-SMS solution

The mobile app needs the push notifications feature, therefore, I recommend that you use the Twilio bulk SMS solution for this. Twilio offers its Programmable SMS solution, and you can consult the following resources to use it:

• Programmable SMS;
• Messaging services and Copilot.

Check out the Twilio pricing plans.

9. Find a test automation aid to improve your test coverage

The web app should work with a wide range of browsers, moreover, the mobile apps need to work with all common mobile devices. You need a test automation aid to achieve this, and pCloudy offers over 5,000 device-browser combinations on the cloud.

Read the pCloudy documentation overview to learn about this solution. You can check out the pCloudy pricing plans to understand its different pricing plans.

10. Design the user interface (UI)

The UI design team needs to design user-friendly interfaces for the web and mobile apps, therefore, I recommend the following resources:

• “User interface design guidelines: 10 rules of thumb”, for designing the web app UI;
• “Design | Create intuitive and beautiful products with material design”, for designing the Android app UI;
• “Human Interface Guidelines”, for the iOS app UI design.

11. Developing the web app

Code the web app using Node.js, the performant and scalable open-source runtime environment. This involves the following:

• Use Eclipse IDE, with “Enide (Studio) 2015 – Node.js, JavaScript, Java and web tools” plugin.
• Integrate the Amazon Rekognition and Twilio APIs.
• Read “Adding a database to your Elastic Beanstalk environment” to learn how to integrate database resources on AWS Elastic Beanstalk.
• Test and deploy the web app on AWS Elastic Beanstalk. You can read “Deploying Node.js applications to AWS Elastic Beanstalk” for guidance.

12. Developing the Android app

I recommend that you code the Android app using Java, and you should use Android Studio, the popular IDE for Android development. You need to integrate the Amazon Rekognition and Twilio APIs in the app.

Test the app using Espresso, and the pCloudy device lab. Read “Publish your app” to learn how to publish the app to Google Play.

13. iOS app development

I recommend that you code the iOS app using Swift, using Xcode, the popular IDE for developing apps for Apple’s platforms. Integrate the Amazon Rekognition and Twilio APIs.

Test the app using XCTest and the pCloudy device lab. You can read “Submitting iOS apps to the App Store” to find instructions on how to publish the app to the Apple App Store.

Planning to launch a facial recognition software for your organization?

You can certainly expedite the project of facial recognition technology with the help of platforms, tools, frameworks, and guidelines, however, developing the best facial recognition software can be a complex project.

I recommend that you engage a reputed software development company for such projects, and read our guide “How to find the best software development company?” to find one.

DevTeam.Space can help you with creating market-competitive facial recognition solutions. You can get in touch via this quick form explaining your initial requirements for a facial recognition feature. One of our account managers will reach out to you to discuss in detail facial recognition process for your project and link you with experienced software developers.

Frequently Asked Questions on how to make face recognition software