If you own an iPhone, you can use Face ID to unlock your phone or use Apple Pay. But the pandemic has made Face ID almost useless in public, because it doesn’t work when you’re wearing a mask, which covers almost half of your face.
Usually this leaves you with one of two options: put on the mask and manually enter the passcode, or take off the mask and let Face ID work that way. Neither option is perfect, which is why Apple’s upcoming iPhone software update is an improvement. Thanks to iOS 15.4 coming next week, you can finally use Face ID while wearing a mask.
As long as you have an iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 running iOS 15.4, you can easily go into your phone’s settings and open a new setting that uses features around your eyes to verify that you’re really you, even if you’re wearing a mask.
But if you have an older iPhone model, or just don’t want to update to iOS 15.4 for a while, there’s another way to unlock your iPhone while wearing a mask—with the Apple Watch. Let’s take a look at how to use it!
How to use Face ID with a mask
This new feature is exclusive to iOS 15.4 and only available on iPhone 12, 12 Mini, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max and iPhone 13, 13 Mini, 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max. If you have both software and hardware, do the following to use Face ID with a mask:
1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
2. Next, go to Face ID & Passcode and enter your passcode.
3. Toggle Use Face ID with a mask.
4. On the next page, select the Use Face ID with mask option.
5. Wear a mask to set up Face ID.
Setting up Face ID with a mask is almost the same as setting up regular Face ID, but the emphasis is on verifying the unique features around the eyes. Once set up, which takes about a minute or so, you can unlock your iPhone masked (and unmasked).
How to Unlock Your iPhone with Apple Watch
If you don’t have iOS 15.4 or an iPhone 12 or 13, you can still unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch. To do this, you need to be running iOS 14.5 or later and WatchOS 7.4 or later. To set up this function:
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Select Face ID & Passcode and enter your passcode.
3. Scroll down to Unlock with Apple Watch, find your Apple Watch and turn on the feature.
Now, when you’re wearing a mask, all you have to do is raise your phone as usual and unlock it with Face ID. You’ll feel a touch on your wrist letting you know your watch has been used to unlock your phone.
The alert on the watch goes beyond just confirming that your phone is unlocked, though. It includes a button to lock the phone in case it’s unlocked by someone else. This is a safety feature that ensures that others cannot pick up your phone and unlock it while wearing a mask. While this is unlikely to happen, it’s a reassuring fallback to keep your data more secure.
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