If you're an iPhone owner, you've probably recently dealt
with the inconvenience of having to type in a passcode to unlock your iPhone.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
recommended wearing face coverings in public places were standing six feet
apart from others may be difficult — like the grocery store, for instance.
That means you probably won't be able to unlock your iPhone
using Face ID, Apple's facial recognition system, while running errands. It's
not by any means the most important coronavirus concern right now, but it can
be a minor annoyance.
That may be especially true for those looking to reduce the
number of times they touch their phone's screen while out in public to avoid
the spread of germs.
If you're hoping to find a way around this, I have some good
news and some bad news.
First, the bad: There doesn't seem to be any easy, foolproof
way to get Face ID to work while wearing a mask.
That's because Face ID creates a depth map by projecting and
analyzing more than 30,000 invisible dots over your face, so it's looking for
areas like your nose and mouth every time it attempts to unlock your phone. Even
if you try wearing a mask during the setup process, your iPhone will notice if
your face is partially obstructed and will urge you to remove any coverings
before proceeding.
Now the good news: I did manage to find one approach that
worked for me. It's based on a tutorial from the Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab,
first discovered by Abacus News, a tech site specializing in coverage of
Chinese gadgets. That method involves re-enrolling your face with Face ID while
holding your mask over half of your face.
But even so, it only works under very specific
circumstances, and I had to try enrolling my face a few times before I managed
to get it working. It's also worth noting that others have tried this method
and found it unsuccessful.
The effectiveness may also vary depending on the type of
mask you're wearing. For this test, I wore a homemade mask that covers the
bottom portion of my face — from the tip of my nose and below — that I created
using a folded bandana and two hair ties.
Here's a look at how I got Face ID to work for me while
wearing a mask.
First, reset Face
ID on your iPhone.
Face_ID_1
Open your iPhone's Settings menu, scroll down to Face ID
& Passcode, and enter your passcode when prompted.
Then, press the "Reset Face ID" button.
Then, take your face mask and fold it in half. Hold it up so
that it covers one side of your face, as shown below.
Face ID Mask
When holding the mask over one side of your face, make sure
it's positioned on that half of your face as it would when you're wearing the
mask fully.
Now it's time to re-enroll in Face ID while covering half of
your face with your mask.
Face ID 3
Open your iPhone's settings menu, type in your passcode, and
Press "Set Up Face ID."
You may also want to try turning off the "Require
Attention for Face ID" option. I found that this improved my chances of
getting Face ID to work while wearing my mask.
Keep in mind, though, that disabling this setting will make
Face ID slightly less secure, as it removes the layer of authentication that
requires your eyes to be open and looking at the screen to unlock your phone.
I'd recommend turning this back on when you're no longer wearing your mask.
Follow the on-screen prompts to register your face with Face
ID.
Face ID 4
Make sure your nose and mouth are visible on the uncovered
portion of your face. My iPhone told me that my face was obstructed a couple of
times during the setup process, but I was eventually able to complete my Face
ID scan.
Then, put on your mask fully and try unlocking your iPhone.
Face ID 5
This is where things get a little tricky. I was able to
unlock my iPhone on several occasions while wearing my face mask, but only when
I held my phone at the angle shown above.
As you can see in the above image, my iPhone still unlocked
even though I was wearing a mask that covered the lower portion of my face.
But adjusting your notifications settings may be a more
reliable and practical alternative.
iPhone settings
While the previously mentioned method worked for me on
several occasions, that may not be the case for everyone. And even if it does
work, you may not have the time or patience to position your face deliberately
while at the grocery store or pharmacy.
Instead, you can try adjusting your notification settings to
make sure incoming texts and other alerts are fully visible from the lock
screen. This will prevent you from having to unlock your phone to read
important notifications.
To get started, open your iPhone's Settings menu and press
Notifications.
iPhone Previews
Select "Show Previews," and choose
"Always." This will ensure that notification previews will always be
shown on the lock screen, whether your phone is locked or unlocked.
You can always change this again later if you want to
maintain more privacy.
Then, go back to the main Settings menu and choose Face ID
&
iPhone attention
awareness
After you enter your passcode, scroll down to the option
called "Attention Awareness Features." You can turn this option off
to prompt your iPhone to expand notifications on the lock screen even when your
phone is locked.
Tags:
Apple news