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In regard to unlock w/Apple Watch: - This is an issue of Apple's own artificial creation. - This doesn't even solve the issue. So this all started because Fa
by Someone1234 6y ago
In regard to unlock w/Apple Watch:
- This is an issue of Apple's own artificial creation.
- This doesn't even solve the issue.
So this all started because Face Unlock didn't work with masks, that's not Apple's fault. But what is entirely Apple's fault is that they break an option which resolves this only when Face Unlock is enabled: "Require Passcode."
When you disable Face Unlock you can set Require Passcode to e.g. 15 minutes/1 hr, and it largely mitigates the aggressiveness by which your iPhone re-locks itself while you're e.g. out grocery shopping in a mask and trying to use a shopping list. But when you enable Face Unlock this option is removed (forced to "Require Immediately").
So Apple enforces "Require Immediately" in Require Passcode, it blows up in their face, and then instead of backing down when masks broke Face Unlock, they instead over-engineer a solution where you have to buy an Apple Watch to work around it.
Their new work-around solution doubles down on exactly the same anti-choice problems discussed above because they forget to mention in this press release that you MUST enable a passcode on your Apple Watch to use this feature at all (and they're relying on the Apple Watch being less aggressive to re-lock than the iPhone).
If you jailbreak your iPhone you can just switch it from "Require Immediately" to e.g. 30 minutes and this mask issue is almost completely gone in one fell swoop. This Apple Watch fix only kinda works (e.g. lost connection to the watch = relock, Watch thinks it is off your wrist = relock, etc).
- iso1631 6y agoI have a 2016SE, with touch ID. It works perfectly well when I wear a mask. If fingerprint doesn't work it immediately pops up the passcode box. It such a shame that apple are good at removing useful features rather than just adding them.
- SilverRed 6y agoThere is no way Apple could have possibly predicted faceid would fail like this. Under normal circumstances it works really well.
- WorldMaker 6y agoIf Face ID doesn't work it does pop up the passcode box. They tweaked it a versions back so it was faster to pop up when "mask detected" (though how well that worked as with any ML-based solution varied from person to person). Additionally the upward "home swipe" and "tap the Face ID indicator" options have both always immediately given the passcode box for me. (My favorite thing that happens sometimes is impatience with Face ID will have me swipe for the passcode box, the box will come up, and I get maybe one or two inputs in before Face ID catches up and finishes the unlock.) This new Watch feature is great for people like me who are paranoid about punching in my passcode in front of a shop full of cameras and strangers, but it's a nice-to-have feature not a "required" feature as some of the above comments seem to complain it is.
- mlang23 6y agoStrictly speaking, covid is not apples fault of course. However, as a long time apple user, I was always against forcing me to move from fingerprint to face ID. And my next iPhone will be an SE for exactly that reason. So I cant resist and feel a bit of "I always knew thats not a good idea". Face ID was a bold move which was punished by, well, lets call it reality.
- CharlesW 6y ago> This doesn't even solve the issue. Having used it for several weeks, this feature elegantly solves the issue.
- dkdbejwi383 6y agoAn even better solution would be to just show the "unlock with passcode" button at all times, and not just after Face ID has spent 15 seconds not recognising you because you have a mask on.
- aikinai 6y agoThey fixed this a few versions ago. Now if it sees a mask, it shows the passcode input immediately.
- mvkel 6y agoThis has never worked for me.
- tomc1985 6y agoInteresting, mine seems to have like a 50% chance of unlocking anyways with my mask on, I thought they did some sort of improved face-with-mask detection or something
- dwaite 6y agoIt is a cross between detecting the face is obscured, and recognizing the face if deformed by a tight-fitting mask. If you can get around the obscured face check, you can use the alternative FaceID profile while wearing a mask to deal with any nose/cheek deformation. If a mask is on the tip of my nose and loose fitting, it seems to work.
- hackmiester 6y agoI have about a 60% success rate on their "fix" to this, varying wildly depending on which mask I am wearing. The better a mask fits, the less likely the solution is to work, because the phone seems to think it's an unmasked face, just not my unmasked face.
- dkdbejwi383 6y agoStrange, I'm up to date yet it still spends ages searching for my face when I have a mask on. Perhaps my mask isn't masklike enough?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- milansm 6y agoWell now that I’m so used to a level of privacy that locked iPhone provides (notification details are hidden), I just don’t mind having the phone relocked each time. It’s a trade-off that works for me. Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if significant percent of users actually checks their phone at least one in 15 minutes. This would mean that their phones would be at unlocked almost all the time.
- Someone1234 6y ago- This is about choice. Namely, expanding choice. So if that is your comfort level, keep doing what you're doing. - When Face Unlock is enabled the iPhone doesn't take 15 minutes to re-lock. That's what is being requested, not what we have. 15 minutes would be much longer than the status quo.
- fuzzy2 6y ago> - This doesn't even solve the issue. Right you are, but for a different reason: Face masks entirely break Apple Pay. If you have an Apple Watch, lucky you, you can use the watch to pay instead. If you don’t? Well, tough luck. Unlock with Watch apparently does not work with Apple Pay. /e: Wasn’t aware of activating Pay using the code. Oops. :D
- rustyminnow 6y agoYou can't just enter your passcode for Apple Pay?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ssully 6y agoYou can, but the above poster and original poster seem to be saying that fallback to passcode is a failure in it self.
- gandhi00 6y agoYou can
- DrBenCarson 6y agoYou can. I do it multiple times per week. It adds an extra 10s to “being ready for the register” but it’s hardly worth complaining about in a pandemic.
- Spivak 6y agoI just wish Apple Pay had a longer timeout because I want to have it open before I reach the register but by the time they're ready to scan it reauths.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- aiisjustanif 6y ago
- _jal 6y agoI just fixed it by turning off FaceID. Apple reached phone perfection with the iPhone 4; they reached access perfection with touchID. Things have gotten worse since then.
- walterbell 6y agoLatest iPhone SE and iPad Air are both TouchID only - and wonderful.
- _jal 6y agoI agree, it looks like it ticks all the boxes. I usually only replace phones when the battery starts going. But I'm thinking of getting the SE anyway, just in case it isn't available when this one (X) finally goes.
- kiwijamo 6y agoOh thank you. I've been making up my mind over which phone to get next. You've just helped me rule out the SE. The TouchID is one feature I've never had reliable experience with. I have sweaty hands, and it seems TouchID has trouble with fingers with sweat on them. But even when I dry my hands before attempting it it wouldn't always work. I thought FaceID would be worse until $WORK gave my team an Apple with FaceID. I got to see first hand how much better FaceID is. It's doesn't have a 100% success rate but it is much closer to 100% than TouchID in my experience. I just pick up my phone and it's unlocked almost instantly. A much better UX than I had with my previous iPhone 8 and 5s which had TouchID. I was disappointed they didn't improve it for the 8, it was just as bad as the 5s.
- walterbell 6y agoMask-independent TouchID on the $399 iPhone SE has been 100% reliable. Even works in the dark, including close distances where FaceID forces you to move the phone back so it can focus. Allows the phone to be unlocked with one hand without looking, when multitasking.
- dylan604 6y ago
- kevindong 6y agoOne of the core parts of Apple is having fewer choices, but striving to have the available options be good options. Apple doesn't always succeed with picking the ideal middle point between too few and too many choices (most frequently, it's skewed towards the 'too few' side) however.
- ghaff 6y ago>MUST enable a passcode on your Apple Watch to use this feature at all In all fairness, I believe they require you to set a passcode on your watch if you use it for Apple Pay. And, honestly, especially right now--while I don't always use my watch to pay mostly because the Magsafe wallet makes pulling out a card very easy--it's pretty convenient.
- WorldMaker 6y agoI have found the watch the most convenient NFC payment option of them all, if a place supports NFC payments at all. So many places still put the readers too close to the cashiers and getting a phone near them is awkward, but usually you can wave your wrist at them without problem. I still love how spooked cashiers sometimes get when you do that for the first time around them (and they often don't realize they support NFC payments because no one wants to try the awkward phone angle) and it looked like you just waved your arm to pay.
- gshakir 6y agoI have a Samsung Galaxy as work phone and it has a fingerprint sensor unlock in addition to FaceID. Would love that in Apple iPhone due to masks becoming so prevalent.
- vineyardmike 6y agoWhile it might just be theater, not requiring a password immediately seems like a pretty big security regression.
- mirthflat83 6y agoYeah what a hilarious suggestion. Might as well just not lock your phone at all.
- cglong 6y agoThe "Require Passcode" feature actually saved my data (and possibly my life) when I got robbed at gunpoint. The robber turned on my iPhone and was able to unlock it, so he assumed there was no PIN. He then turned off the phone to disable tracking (and inadvertently locked the phone, protecting my data and rendering the phone useless to pawn shops).
- mensetmanusman 6y agoOur corporate iPhones require passwords every 2 minutes, because apparently having to type the passcode in dozens of times a day in the public is a better security model.
- jdminhbg 6y ago> you MUST enable a passcode on your Apple Watch to use this feature at all (and they're relying on the Apple Watch being less aggressive to re-lock than the iPhone). When you refer to the Apple Watch being “less aggressive to re-lock,” you’re really overselling it. The Watch does not re-lock for the entire time it’s on your wrist after you first unlock it (which you can do with FaceID on your phone). I go weeks without typing a passcode on my Watch.
- hnick 6y agoDo we need the whole face? Could it work with a quorum of points? My face unlock works fine with sunglasses. If it detects a mask could it fall back to judging the remainder more thoroughly?