Face ID on the iPhone is an incredibly secure form of biometric authentication . It’s also super-fast and makes unlocking the device a breeze. But once you don your face mask to combat COVID-19, you have no recourse but to revert to using that slow and cumbersome device passcode. Maddening, right?
How Unlocking an iPhone Using Face ID With a Mask On Works
You don’t have to keep punching in your iPhone’s 4-6 digit device passcode over and over again while wearing a face mask. Provided that you also use an Apple Watch and that both devices run at least iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4, you can go back to using Face ID, even when you’ve got your face covered. Here’s how that works.
Whenever you hold up your iPhone to use Face ID , the infrared sensor next to the forward-facing camera kicks in and attempts to identify you. If it succeeds, it unlocks the device. If it fails, it skips asking you for the passcode and communicates with your Apple Watch instead.
As long as your Apple Watch is passcode-protected, unlocked, and strapped to your wrist, Face ID deems that it’s you and grants you access to the iPhone. It’s fast and only takes a fraction of a second longer than unlocking the device with Face ID alone. You won’t notice the difference.
That does raise multiple security-related concerns. But Apple has designed Face ID to work in conjunction with the Apple Watch in a way that minimizes the chances of anyone else accessing your iPhone without permission.
- You must use a passcode-protected Apple Watch.
- You must strap the Apple Watch to your wrist and unlock it before you can use the device to authenticate your iPhone. It uses a built-in feature called Wrist Detection to determine that your watch is near.
- You must also unlock your iPhone using Face ID or its passcode each time you strap your Apple Watch to your wrist—e.g. when you leave home.
- Your Apple Watch notifies you with a tap on the wrist, followed by a notification when Face ID unlocks the device for you. The notification features a Lock iPhone option that you can tap to lock your device if someone else manages to unlock your iPhone without you knowing.
- Your iPhone shall fall back to requesting a passcode if it detects sudden movement away from the Apple Watch.
- Your Apple Watch cannot verify Apple Pay transactions or provide access to Face ID-protected apps.
How to Enable an Apple Watch to Unlock iPhone With Face ID
The functionality that allows Face ID to unlock an iPhone using an Apple Watch isn’t active by default. You must turn it on manually by digging into the Face ID & Passcode settings on your iOS device.
If you run into trouble performing the steps below, skip ahead to the “Can’t Activate Apple Watch to Unlock iPhone? Here’s What to Do” section and retry.
Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Scroll down and tap Face ID & Passcode .
Enter your device passcode.
- Scroll down to the Unlock With Apple Watch section. Then, turn on the switch next to [Your name]’s Apple Watch .
Tap Turn On .
Exit the Settings app.
How to Unlock an iPhone Using Face ID With a Mask On
You’re now ready to use Face ID to unlock your iPhone despite wearing a face mask. The following steps shall demonstrate that.
Strap the Apple Watch to your wrist. Then, tap the watch face and enter your watchOS passcode.
Unlock the iPhone once using Face ID (if you’ve yet to wear your mask) or your device passcode.
- Try locking, and then unlocking your iPhone with a face mask on. Your iPhone will authenticate and unlock itself via your Apple Watch immediately.
Your Apple Watch will tap your wrist and display a notification labeled [Your Name]’s iPhone Unlocked by this Apple Watch . Tap the Lock iPhone option if you unintentionally unlocked your iOS device (or if someone else did that without permission).
Whenever you take off and re-strap your Apple Watch, you must unlock your iPhone normally again before you can access the device using Face ID while wearing a face mask.
Can’t Activate Apple Watch to Unlock your iPhone? Here’s What to Do
Your iPhone and Apple Watch must run iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4 or later. If not, you can’t activate the functionality that allows you to use Face ID with a mask on. Even if you have the latest versions of iOS and watchOS installed, it’s still a good idea to check for updates. They often contain improvements and fixes for known issues.
Also, your Apple Watch should be passcode-protected and have Wrist Detection up and running. Working your way through the instructions below should ensure that everything’s in order.
Update iPhone
Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Tap General .
Tap Software Update .
Wait until your iPhone finishes scanning for new software updates.
Tap Download and install .
Update Apple Watch
Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
Tap General .
Tap Software Update .
Wait for your iPhone to finish scanning for new watchOS updates.
Tap Download & Install .
Add Passcode to Apple Watch
Press the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch and tap Settings .
Scroll down and tap Passcode .
Tap Turn Passcode On . Then, set up a passcode.
Activate Wrist Detection on Apple Watch
Press the Digital Crown on your iPhone and tap Settings .
Scroll down and tap Passcode .
Scroll down the screen and turn on the switch next to Wrist Detection .
Face ID With Apple Watch: Safe and Secure
Unlocking your iPhone with an Apple Watch removes the bother of using a passcode, but it also gives you another reason never to take off your face mask in public.
Any Apple Watch supporting watchOS 7.4 or later should work. So if you don’t have one already, it’s a much cheaper solution than, say, switching to an iPhone with Touch ID. An Apple Watch also comes with numerous health-related benefits , making it a worthy investment.
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Passcodes suck. They take a long time to type in, it’s easy to forget them and most people probably pick something really easy to guess, which hurts their security. This is why biometric unlock methods are so popular.
All but the most inexpensive smartphones now have fingerprint scanners built-in. One little touch and your phone unlocks, which is pretty convenient. But more devices are also now using facial recognition instead since screens are getting so large. Apple is no different and offers devices that use both of these technologies to secure them. Technologies that are officially known as Face ID and Touch ID.
But how do Face ID and fingerprint scans work?
What Are Face ID & Touch ID?
The obvious answer to this question is that Face ID is a face unlock system and Touch ID is a fingerprint unlock system. Job done. End of article. Right? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that because although lots of different companies use faces and fingerprints to unlock their devices, they don’t all work in the same way.
These two biometric systems are Apple’s proprietary solutions to the biometric problem. This matters because companies like Apple feel that their approach and technology are more secure than their competition. It matters because hackers and other security specialists have managed to fool systems like these in the past.
As you’d expect, there’s a race between the creators of biometric security sensors and those who want to defeat them. You must know how the sensors on your Apple device work and what their limitations are.
How Does Face ID & Touch ID Work?
Touch ID is Apple’s most mature biometric system and you’ll find it on certain models of iPhones, iPads, and MacBook Pros. Its sensors use the sapphire crystal as the button material. This is very hard and incredibly resistant to scratches, which is why high-end smartphone cameras also use sapphire lens covers.
When you place your finger on the button, a very high-resolution image is taken of your fingertip. A proprietary software algorithm then examines the image, transforming your fingerprint into pure math. This is then compared to the stored mathematical transformation of the fingerprint that was registered when Touch ID was set up. If they match, then the device unlocks.
Face ID works in a pretty smart way as well. Many devices use a normal camera for facial recognition. It compares the photo it has on record with the one you are presenting to unlock the device. The software that does the facial matching is quite sophisticated, but many of these cameras can’t tell the difference between a photo or a mask, so they can be fooled into unlocking.
Face ID, on the other hand, makes use of a specialized TrueDepth camera to create a very detailed depth map of your face. One with over 30 000 points. It combines this with an infrared image of your face to create a facial profile. The neural net machine learning hardware components of modern Apple mobile device processors make this level of sophistication possible.
So how secure are these technologies and are they good enough for you to trust?
General Biometric Security Flaws
First of all, some security vulnerabilities apply to biometric systems in general. The biggest problem with using an aspect of your biology to unlock something is that you can’t change it. If someone managed to make a perfect copy of your fingerprint or face, they could unlock anything. If someone figures out a password or passcode, just change it.
This sort of thing has happened in the past and the way that biometric sensors have got around it is by becoming more detailed and looking at multiple aspects of your biology. For example, finer details of your fingerprints or the presence of body heat. Those who want to defeat these systems have to get better at replicating your biology, which is impractical for the average hacker at a certain point.
The biggest weakness of biometric systems is a pretty simple one. Someone can simply take your finger or face and force you to unlock your device. That’s different from a password or code which you can “forget” or otherwise withhold. We’ll deal with this scenario at the end of the article.
How Secure Are Face ID & Touch ID?
This is a bit of a loaded question since that depends on what your definition of ‘secure’ is. Usually, the security of systems like these is expressed as the odds of someone randomly beating them. That’s the “brute force” method of cracking a digital lock. For Touch ID there’s only a 1 in 500,000 chance of someone’s fingerprint being similar enough to yours that Touch ID will be fooled.
Of course, that’s very different compared to someone making an impression of your fingerprint or creating fake ones from a scan. Then again, how likely that is to happen depends on who you are and if someone would be motivated to take this extreme path. If you’re a VIP who draws this sort of attention, you shouldn’t be using biometrics, since they aren’t secure enough at that risk level in our opinion.
Face ID is more secure from a brute force perspective according to Apple’s numbers. With a one-in-a-million chance of a random person looking enough like you. Identical twins are perhaps the exception here. So what about photographs or masks that replicate your face? Face ID has countermeasures for this. As mentioned above, photos won’t work since the camera can sense depth. It uses neural net technology to also mitigate against the use of masks.
There are no numbers to tell us how effective this is, but once again for the average user, no one is going to spend thousands or even millions of dollars creating technology to defeat Face ID. If you’re the president of a country, don’t use biometric locks.
Activating The iOS Biometric Killswitch
Now only one issue remains. What if someone is in a position to force you into unlocking your phone? They just have to point it at your face or put your finger on it, after all. If you think you may be entering this situation, you can simply click the on/off button five times and biometrics will be disabled in favor of a passcode.
On the iPhone 8 and up you need to squeeze the side button and either of the volume buttons. These methods could be different when you read this, so be sure you look up the biometric killswitch method for your specific iOS device.
In short: Face ID and Touch ID are plenty secure for most people, but not for people who need military-grade security. If you are however very paranoid, use a six-digit passcode instead.
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