Our long nightmare of not being able to easily unlock our iPhones with Face ID when wearing a face mask is about to come to an end.
The first developers beta of iOS 15.4 appeared today (January 27), and it’s safe to say the highlight feature involves the ability to use Face ID to unlock your iPhone even if you’ve got a mask on.
This has been a particular problem for iPhone users since the coronavirus pandemic began and wearing masks out in public and in enclosed spaces became an advisable practice. Because Face ID needed to see your whole face to verify your identity — that what makes Face ID a particularly secure unlocking method — it was unable to work with a mask obscuring your mouth, nose and chin. As a consequence, you had to punch in your passcode to unlock your iPhone every single time.
Apple had taken steps since iOS 14.5 to mitigate that hassle, allowing people wearing Apple Watches on to use proximity sensing to help Face ID work properly. Another iOS update sped up Face ID’s ability to recognize that you had a mask on and skip directly to the passcode step.
iOS 15.4: Using Face ID with a mask
However, in iOS 15.4, there’s no need for either workaround. A toggle in the Face ID & Passcode section of Settings now lets you designate that you want to use the feature when you’re wearing a mask. According to the explanation included in the settings, when this mode is enabled, Face ID will use the features around the eye area to authenticate you; that means you have to be looking at your iPhone to use Face ID with your mask on.
A second setting right below Use Face ID with a Mask lets you add glasses to help improve Face ID’s accuracy. Note that this is just for eyeglasses — Apple warns that Face ID’s ability to work with a mask stops when you’re wearing sunglasses.
You should also be aware that this feature prizes convenience over security. A warning from Apple in Settings cautions you that “Face ID is most accurate when it’s set up for full-face recognition only.”
How Face ID with a mask works
Setting up the feature is a fairly straightforward process. Once you turn on the switch to use Face ID with a mask on for the first time, you’ll have to rescan your face. The good news is that it seems you can turn the feature on and off without having to rescan your face each time.
On an iPhone 13 running the iOS 15.4 developer beta, I was able to scan my face and then don a face mask. Once the mask was on, I could still unlock my iPhone just as simply as if I wasn’t wearing a mask. The process is really no different.
It’s unclear at the moment if the new Face ID with mask support extends to any iPhone capable of running the iOS 15.4 update or whether it’s limited to phones with more recent processors. (Some iOS 15 features require at least a phone with an A12 chip.) We’ll add this information as we get the opportunity to test it further.
Other iOS 15.4 features
The Face ID improvement will get the most attention, but it’s not the only new feature in iOS 15.4. The Notes and Reminders apps can now let you use the camera to copy text from objects. Apple also added several new emjoi, including heart hands, biting lip and pregnant person.
Now that developers have the iOS 15.4 beta, it should find its way to the public beta program shortly. It’s unclear how long it will be before a full version of iOS 15.4 is ready for every iPhone, though Apple generally issues several betas before an update to iOS 15 goes live.
What Face ID’s mask support means for iPhone 14
Rumors that Apple was working on allowing Face ID to recognizes faces wearing masks began to circulate during the summer, with some people suggesting that the feature would appear with the iPhone 13 launch in the fall. That didn’t happen, but clearly Apple has been working on something in the background, as the feature is headed to a future iOS update.
We can’t help but wonder what this means for the iPhone 14 and the potential return of Touch ID. One of the main arguments for bringing back the feature — which allows you to press a sensor and unlock your device with a fingerprint — was the inability of Face ID to work with face masks. Now that Apple’s addressed that complaint, the need for Touch ID is less pressing. And that’s good, since several analysts have raised doubts that the feature will return to this fall’s iPhones.
Still, having Touch ID would be a welcome addition and add an extra level of security if Apple can find a way to do it. Possible solutions include using an under-display fingerprint sensor as many Android phones do now or building the fingerprint reader into the phone’s power button similar to the iPad Air.
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