iPhone can be unlocked with Face ID even if you are wearing a mask. A special option exists in iOS 15.4. Unless you go through an Apple Watch.
When you’re in a place where it’s still mandatory to wear a mask and use Face ID, spending time unlocking your iPhone might not be the best solution. Instead, you can enter your PIN. At the same time, thanks to iOS 15.4, you can use Face ID without removing the mask.
If you have an iPhone 12 or later with iOS 15.4 or later, you can go into settings and turn on a new feature that uses a different level of detection to make sure it’s really you. This allows you to use Face ID without removing your mask.
That being said, if you have an older iPhone or don’t want to update to iOS 15.4, there’s another way to unlock your iPhone while you’re wearing a mask, through your Apple Watch. These two methods are explained below.
How to use Face ID with a mask
This new feature is exclusive to iOS 15.4 and is only available on iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max, and iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, and 13 Pro Max. After installing the update, you will see the option to use Face ID with a mask on the welcome screen, but you can also follow the instructions below to activate it:
- On your iPhone, go to Settings.
- Go to Face ID & Code and enter your code.
- Activate the Face ID with mask option.
- On the next page, select the “Use Face ID with Mask”option.
- Finally, remove your mask if you have one and set up Face ID.
The system will inform you that your face must match the one already registered, so that you cannot register, for example, on someone else’s smartphone. Although your entire face is scanned, Use Face ID with Mask helps you discover unique features around your eyes. Once the setup is complete, you can unlock your iPhone with the mask (and without it, of course).
How to use Apple Watch to unlock iPhone
If you don’t have iOS 15.4 or an iPhone 12 or 13, you can still unlock your iPhone with a mask using your Apple Watch. For this to work, you need iOS 14.5 or later and WatchOS 7.4 or later. To set up a set:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Select Face ID and code and enter your code.
- Scroll down to Unlock with Apple Watch, find your Apple Watch, and turn on the option.
Now that you’re wearing a mask, you just need to hold your phone like you normally would to unlock it with Face ID. You should feel your watch vibrate, letting you know that it has unlocked your iPhone.
A watch alert is more than just a warning. This screen also has a button to lock the phone if it has been unlocked by someone else. This is a security feature that ensures that a third person does not pick up the phone and unlock it, for example, wearing a mask. Unlikely, of course, but the presence of this button is encouraging.