Detect Faces with ML Kit on iOS

You can use ML Kit to detect faces in images and video.

Before you begin

1. If you have not already added Firebase to your app, do so by following the steps in the getting started guide.
2. Include the ML Kit libraries in your Podfile:

   pod 'Firebase/MLVision', '6.25.0'
   # If you want to detect face contours (landmark detection and classification
   # don't require this additional model):
   pod 'Firebase/MLVisionFaceModel', '6.25.0'
   

   After you install or update your project's Pods, be sure to open your Xcode project using its .xcworkspace.
3. In your app, import Firebase:

   Swift

   import Firebase

   Objective-C

   @import Firebase;

Input image guidelines

For ML Kit to accurately detect faces, input images must contain faces that are represented by sufficient pixel data. In general, each face you want to detect in an image should be at least 100x100 pixels. If you want to detect the contours of faces, ML Kit requires higher resolution input: each face should be at least 200x200 pixels.

If you are detecting faces in a real-time application, you might also want to consider the overall dimensions of the input images. Smaller images can be processed faster, so to reduce latency, capture images at lower resolutions (keeping in mind the above accuracy requirements) and ensure that the subject's face occupies as much of the image as possible. Also see Tips to improve real-time performance.

Poor image focus can hurt accuracy. If you aren't getting acceptable results, try asking the user to recapture the image.

The orientation of a face relative to the camera can also affect what facial features ML Kit detects. See Face Detection Concepts.

1. Configure the face detector

For example, build a VisionFaceDetectorOptions object like one of the following examples:

// High-accuracy landmark detection and face classification
let options = VisionFaceDetectorOptions()
options.performanceMode = .accurate
options.landmarkMode = .all
options.classificationMode = .all

// Real-time contour detection of multiple faces
let options = VisionFaceDetectorOptions()
options.contourMode = .all

// High-accuracy landmark detection and face classification
FIRVisionFaceDetectorOptions *options = [[FIRVisionFaceDetectorOptions alloc] init];
options.performanceMode = FIRVisionFaceDetectorPerformanceModeAccurate;
options.landmarkMode = FIRVisionFaceDetectorLandmarkModeAll;
options.classificationMode = FIRVisionFaceDetectorClassificationModeAll;

// Real-time contour detection of multiple faces
FIRVisionFaceDetectorOptions *options = [[FIRVisionFaceDetectorOptions alloc] init];
options.contourMode = FIRVisionFaceDetectorContourModeAll;

2. Run the face detector

1. Get an instance of VisionFaceDetector:

   Swift

   lazy var vision = Vision.vision()
   
   let faceDetector = vision.faceDetector(options: options)

   Objective-C

   FIRVision *vision = [FIRVision vision];
   FIRVisionFaceDetector *faceDetector = [vision faceDetector];
   // Or, to change the default settings:
   // FIRVisionFaceDetector *faceDetector =
   //     [vision faceDetectorWithOptions:options];

2. Create a VisionImage object using a UIImage or a CMSampleBufferRef.

   To use a UIImage:

   1. If necessary, rotate the image so that its imageOrientation property is .up.
   2. Create a VisionImage object using the correctly-rotated UIImage. Do not specify any rotation metadata—the default value, .topLeft, must be used.

      Swift

      let image = VisionImage(image: uiImage)

      Objective-C

      FIRVisionImage *image = [[FIRVisionImage alloc] initWithImage:uiImage];

   To use a CMSampleBufferRef:

   1. Create a VisionImageMetadata object that specifies the orientation of the image data contained in the CMSampleBufferRef buffer.

      To get the image orientation:

      Swift

      func imageOrientation(
          deviceOrientation: UIDeviceOrientation,
          cameraPosition: AVCaptureDevice.Position
          ) -> VisionDetectorImageOrientation {
          switch deviceOrientation {
          case .portrait:
              return cameraPosition == .front ? .leftTop : .rightTop
          case .landscapeLeft:
              return cameraPosition == .front ? .bottomLeft : .topLeft
          case .portraitUpsideDown:
              return cameraPosition == .front ? .rightBottom : .leftBottom
          case .landscapeRight:
              return cameraPosition == .front ? .topRight : .bottomRight
          case .faceDown, .faceUp, .unknown:
              return .leftTop
          }
      }

      Objective-C

      - (FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientation)
          imageOrientationFromDeviceOrientation:(UIDeviceOrientation)deviceOrientation
                                 cameraPosition:(AVCaptureDevicePosition)cameraPosition {
        switch (deviceOrientation) {
          case UIDeviceOrientationPortrait:
            if (cameraPosition == AVCaptureDevicePositionFront) {
              return FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientationLeftTop;
            } else {
              return FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientationRightTop;
            }
          case UIDeviceOrientationLandscapeLeft:
            if (cameraPosition == AVCaptureDevicePositionFront) {
              return FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientationBottomLeft;
            } else {
              return FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientationTopLeft;
            }
          case UIDeviceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown:
            if (cameraPosition == AVCaptureDevicePositionFront) {
              return FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientationRightBottom;
            } else {
              return FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientationLeftBottom;
            }
          case UIDeviceOrientationLandscapeRight:
            if (cameraPosition == AVCaptureDevicePositionFront) {
              return FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientationTopRight;
            } else {
              return FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientationBottomRight;
            }
          default:
            return FIRVisionDetectorImageOrientationTopLeft;
        }
      }

      Then, create the metadata object:

      Swift

      let cameraPosition = AVCaptureDevice.Position.back  // Set to the capture device you used.
      let metadata = VisionImageMetadata()
      metadata.orientation = imageOrientation(
          deviceOrientation: UIDevice.current.orientation,
          cameraPosition: cameraPosition
      )

      Objective-C

      FIRVisionImageMetadata *metadata = [[FIRVisionImageMetadata alloc] init];
      AVCaptureDevicePosition cameraPosition =
          AVCaptureDevicePositionBack;  // Set to the capture device you used.
      metadata.orientation =
          [self imageOrientationFromDeviceOrientation:UIDevice.currentDevice.orientation
                                       cameraPosition:cameraPosition];

   2. Create a VisionImage object using the CMSampleBufferRef object and the rotation metadata:

      Swift

      let image = VisionImage(buffer: sampleBuffer)
      image.metadata = metadata

      Objective-C

      FIRVisionImage *image = [[FIRVisionImage alloc] initWithBuffer:sampleBuffer];
      image.metadata = metadata;

3. Then, pass the image to the detect(in:) method:

   Swift

   faceDetector.process(visionImage) { faces, error in
     guard error == nil, let faces = faces, !faces.isEmpty else {
       // ...
       return
     }
   
     // Faces detected
     // ...
   }

   Objective-C

   [faceDetector detectInImage:image
                    completion:^(NSArray<FIRVisionFace *> *faces,
                                 NSError *error) {
     if (error != nil) {
       return;
     } else if (faces != nil) {
       // Recognized faces
     }
   }];

3. Get information about detected faces

for face in faces {
  let frame = face.frame
  if face.hasHeadEulerAngleY {
    let rotY = face.headEulerAngleY  // Head is rotated to the right rotY degrees
  }
  if face.hasHeadEulerAngleZ {
    let rotZ = face.headEulerAngleZ  // Head is rotated upward rotZ degrees
  }

  // If landmark detection was enabled (mouth, ears, eyes, cheeks, and
  // nose available):
  if let leftEye = face.landmark(ofType: .leftEye) {
    let leftEyePosition = leftEye.position
  }

  // If contour detection was enabled:
  if let leftEyeContour = face.contour(ofType: .leftEye) {
    let leftEyePoints = leftEyeContour.points
  }
  if let upperLipBottomContour = face.contour(ofType: .upperLipBottom) {
    let upperLipBottomPoints = upperLipBottomContour.points
  }

  // If classification was enabled:
  if face.hasSmilingProbability {
    let smileProb = face.smilingProbability
  }
  if face.hasRightEyeOpenProbability {
    let rightEyeOpenProb = face.rightEyeOpenProbability
  }

  // If face tracking was enabled:
  if face.hasTrackingID {
    let trackingId = face.trackingID
  }
}

for (FIRVisionFace *face in faces) {
  // Boundaries of face in image
  CGRect frame = face.frame;

  if (face.hasHeadEulerAngleY) {
    CGFloat rotY = face.headEulerAngleY;  // Head is rotated to the right rotY degrees
  }
  if (face.hasHeadEulerAngleZ) {
    CGFloat rotZ = face.headEulerAngleZ;  // Head is tilted sideways rotZ degrees
  }

  // If landmark detection was enabled (mouth, ears, eyes, cheeks, and
  // nose available):
  FIRVisionFaceLandmark *leftEar = [face landmarkOfType:FIRFaceLandmarkTypeLeftEar];
  if (leftEar != nil) {
    FIRVisionPoint *leftEarPosition = leftEar.position;
  }

  // If contour detection was enabled:
  FIRVisionFaceContour *upperLipBottomContour = [face contourOfType:FIRFaceContourTypeUpperLipBottom];
  if (upperLipBottomContour != nil) {
    NSArray<FIRVisionPoint *> *upperLipBottomPoints = upperLipBottomContour.points;
    if (upperLipBottomPoints.count > 0) {
      NSLog("Detected the bottom contour of the subject's upper lip.")
    }
  }

  // If classification was enabled:
  if (face.hasSmilingProbability) {
    CGFloat smileProb = face.smilingProbability;
  }
  if (face.hasRightEyeOpenProbability) {
    CGFloat rightEyeOpenProb = face.rightEyeOpenProbability;
  }

  // If face tracking was enabled:
  if (face.hasTrackingID) {
    NSInteger trackingID = face.trackingID;
  }
}

Example of face contours

When you have face contour detection enabled, you get a list of points for each facial feature that was detected. These points represent the shape of the feature. See the Face Detection Concepts Overview for details about how contours are represented.

The following image illustrates how these points map to a face (click the image to enlarge):