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In my case Face ID was a significant downgrade, even before the pandemic and masks. With Touch ID, I can reach into my pocket, place my finger on the button as

In my case Face ID was a significant downgrade, even before the pandemic and masks. With Touch ID, I can reach into my pocket, place my finger on the button as I'm taking the phone out, and by the time I got the phone out it's already unlocked, played the unlock animation and is on the home screen. If the phone is on the table/etc I can just put my finger on the button and unlock it - so again by the time I actually grab the phone it's unlocked (that is - if I need to grab it - maybe I just wanted to glance at the notification I just received, or pass it to another person). With Face ID, the phone needs to be in front of your face just to begin the unlock sequence, and needs to be at a certain distance and in clear view of your face. Masks break this, but so do even pre-pandemic things like being in bed and having some of your face obstructed by pillows/blankets.

thom 5y ago
Yep, Face ID is miserable. I can feel myself inwardly flinching every time I know I’m going to have to interact with it. All the swiping, the double tap for Apple Pay, just about everything is slower and less reliable, for no gain at all. That said, my wife gets quite dry hands and has never been able to use the fingerprint sensor reliably so this is a golden age for her. Would be nice to have the option of both going forward.
- ksec 5y ago
  And Apple Transit / Transport. If you have your FaceID unlock failure multiple time, ( You are not looking at the screen or mask ), the Transit wont work at all. You have to be up at the gate and do FaceID authentication.
alwillis 5y ago
Face ID in iOS 15.4 supports unlocking while wearing a mask. I've been testing the public beta and it works great: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/27/face-id-mask-ios-15-4 https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/27/face-id-mask-ios-15-4
jrockway 5y ago
Can someone explain to me why unlocking with FaceID requires you to swipe up? Pressing the power button and having my face visible seems like a good signal to let me start interacting with icons. That, to me, was the FaceID downgrade. It's still easy to unlock when you pull it out of your pocket, it's just annoying that you have to shift your grip downwards to swipe up. (One problem with designing products in California is that they don't have public transportation, so nobody beta testing the phone is standing on a crowded subway, hanging on with one hand and trying to use their phone with the other. The SE was great for one-handed use. The subsequent phones are difficult there.)
- gumby 5y ago
  > Can someone explain to me why unlocking with FaceID requires you to swipe up? Pressing the power button and having my face visible seems like a good signal to let me start interacting with icons. I often want to look at the lock screen, perhaps to tell the time or to read / interact with a notification, or to swipe from the left to interact with the widgets. Quite a lot of my phone usage is like this: recency based (driven by notifications) and/or not wanting to open the phone and then search for the app I want, launch it, get to the right screen and blah blah. Much lower overhead to get the job done. I don't tend to open my phone and doom scroll when I have a moment. I understand that's the major use case for most people, and for them perhaps your model would be appropriate.
- reaperducer 5y ago
  Can someone explain to me why unlocking with FaceID requires you to swipe up? It doesn't. On my iPhone, just picking it up to look at the latest alerts activates FaceID. I find it annoying because more often I just want to see the notifications, not jump back into whatever app I was using six hours ago. If you and I are having opposite problems, there must be a setting for this.
  - jrockway 5y ago
    I looked and did some forum research and there isn't a setting. I think I like the feature you dislike; I just want to be at the home screen or last app without touching the screen after FaceID is done. The current state leaves you on the notifications screen with an unlocked padlock after FaceID, then you have to swipe to actually use your phone. (This was never a problem with TouchID.) Other comments say it's so you can read the notifications after you unlock, but I rarely want to do that.

thom 5y ago

Yep, Face ID is miserable. I can feel myself inwardly flinching every time I know I’m going to have to interact with it. All the swiping, the double tap for Apple Pay, just about everything is slower and less reliable, for no gain at all. That said, my wife gets quite dry hands and has never been able to use the fingerprint sensor reliably so this is a golden age for her. Would be nice to have the option of both going forward.

ksec 5y ago
And Apple Transit / Transport. If you have your FaceID unlock failure multiple time, ( You are not looking at the screen or mask ), the Transit wont work at all. You have to be up at the gate and do FaceID authentication.

alwillis 5y ago

Face ID in iOS 15.4 supports unlocking while wearing a mask. I've been testing the public beta and it works great: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/27/face-id-mask-ios-15-4 https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/27/face-id-mask-ios-15-4

jrockway 5y ago

Can someone explain to me why unlocking with FaceID requires you to swipe up? Pressing the power button and having my face visible seems like a good signal to let me start interacting with icons. That, to me, was the FaceID downgrade. It's still easy to unlock when you pull it out of your pocket, it's just annoying that you have to shift your grip downwards to swipe up. (One problem with designing products in California is that they don't have public transportation, so nobody beta testing the phone is standing on a crowded subway, hanging on with one hand and trying to use their phone with the other. The SE was great for one-handed use. The subsequent phones are difficult there.)

gumby 5y ago
> Can someone explain to me why unlocking with FaceID requires you to swipe up? Pressing the power button and having my face visible seems like a good signal to let me start interacting with icons. I often want to look at the lock screen, perhaps to tell the time or to read / interact with a notification, or to swipe from the left to interact with the widgets. Quite a lot of my phone usage is like this: recency based (driven by notifications) and/or not wanting to open the phone and then search for the app I want, launch it, get to the right screen and blah blah. Much lower overhead to get the job done. I don't tend to open my phone and doom scroll when I have a moment. I understand that's the major use case for most people, and for them perhaps your model would be appropriate.
reaperducer 5y ago
Can someone explain to me why unlocking with FaceID requires you to swipe up? It doesn't. On my iPhone, just picking it up to look at the latest alerts activates FaceID. I find it annoying because more often I just want to see the notifications, not jump back into whatever app I was using six hours ago. If you and I are having opposite problems, there must be a setting for this.
- jrockway 5y ago
  I looked and did some forum research and there isn't a setting. I think I like the feature you dislike; I just want to be at the home screen or last app without touching the screen after FaceID is done. The current state leaves you on the notifications screen with an unlocked padlock after FaceID, then you have to swipe to actually use your phone. (This was never a problem with TouchID.) Other comments say it's so you can read the notifications after you unlock, but I rarely want to do that.