Only password required option is “immediately”

If you're using TouchID/FaceID, "Immediately" is the only option. You can, however, change how long it takes for your screen to lock in Display & Brightness>Autolock. I find 1 minute is a good balance between convenience and battery saving.

AP6Y_dg7va wrote:

This is an entirely unsatisfactory response.

Sorry if the truth doesn't work for you.

I’m not sure if the “Require Passcode” setting (under Settings/Passcode and Face ID) is new or if it used to have options other than “Immediately”. In any case, this new situation makes Face ID almost pointless, as my long alphanumeric passcode is required anyway.

How does it make FaceID pointless? You only need to type in a passcode if you've restarted the phone or if it has been more than 24 (I think) hours since you last unlocked your phone.

When it says that a passcode is required "immediately" that means either FaceID/TouchID or the typed passcode (except as noted above).

Like any iPhone with FaceID enabled, mine says that a passcode is required immediately. What I use to open my phone is my FaceID. It works very well. If that's not what's happening for you, something else is wrong.

“… [When] The device has received a remote lock command …”

I’m presuming that this generally means from “Find Me”

(anyone PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong or incomplete)

AP6Y: Are your AppleID and password truly secure and not compromised? How do you know?

2FA is not required for a remote “lost” which indeed locks the phone and necessitates a pass code entry.

(just exploring possible options)

From the iW00’s same source (unabridged)

• There were five unsuccessful biometric match attempts (though for usability, the device might offer entering a passcode or password instead of using biometrics after a smaller number of failures).

FaceID is not intended for multiple users; it’s intended for variations of the same user.

We might simply be confusing FaceID so that it falls-back to “safer” Passcode authentication. (this is similar to how we are now quickly prompted for passcodes w/masks on … early-on in the pandemic it delayed for multiple failures)

A possible way to know for sure is to reset your FaceID with JUST YOU …. and see if the “Frequent Passcode Request Issue” resolves itself.

Chattanoogan wrote:

“… [When] The device has received a remote lock command …”

I’m presuming that this generally means from “Find Me”

(anyone PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong or incomplete)

(just exploring possible options)

Find My for sure. It does lock the device (from use of Face ID) even when you play Find My sound.

Vrry likely it could also be extended to MDM and Exchange remote lock too.

Like Chattanoogan said, iPhone is considered as personal device and Face ID is one user only. Having two people enrolled on the same device could be the source of your issue. Alternative Face Appearance shouldn’t be used to setup second person’s face.

Reset Face ID and set it up again. And an important rule, if you allow others to use your iPhone, unlock it first before handling it over. If they know your passcode they have access to all your saved passwords, cards, etc.

AP6Y_dg7va wrote:

Thanks for your patience iW00 in walking with me all the way to this level of understanding.

✌🏼

This is an entirely unsatisfactory response. I see this same behaviour on my iPhone 10, which I have had for well over a year. I always apply iPhone updates as soon as they come out. Before about 2 weeks ago, I was asked to enter my passcode to enable face id about once every two weeks. Now I get required to enter it daily. I’m not sure if the “Require Passcode” setting (under Settings/Passcode and Face ID) is new or if it used to have options other than “Immediately”. In any case, this new situation makes Face ID almost pointless, as my long alphanumeric passcode is required anyway. Before this recent change, the passcode was an occasional safeguard in case Face ID had been compromised somehow. Now it’s become a 2-factor thing where I need to provide both every day. That’s an inconvenience that I’m not happy about. Is Apple telling us that face ID is actually not secure after all?

About Face ID advanced technology

https://support.apple.com/en-ie/HT208108

To use Face ID, you must set up a passcode on your device. You must enter your passcode for additional security validation when:

• The device has just been turned on or restarted.
• The device hasn’t been unlocked for more than 48 hours.
• The passcode hasn’t been used to unlock the device in the last six and a half days and Face ID hasn't unlocked the device in the last 4 hours.
• The device has received a remote lock command.
• After five unsuccessful attempts to match a face.
• After initiating power off/Emergency SOS by pressing and holding either volume button and the side button simultaneously for 2 seconds.

Absolutely correct assessment.

Under “normal” circumstances - and “unmasked” FaceID - we should all “need” to enter our passcodes only about once a week.

iW00’s excerpt from the Platform Security Guide is crystal clear.

Something else is apparently “fouled” w/ OPs device.

None of those bullets apply to me.

1. I hardly ever power off or restart my phone - this only happens when a software update is applied.

2. My phone is unlocked for at least part of every day.

3. Passcode is required more often than weekly.

4. I don't even know what a remote lock command is. How could I do this accidentally? Especially if I had never done it in the year before about 2 weeks ago.

5. How could failure to match my face be happening now, without my knowing about it, when that never happened before? My face gets recognized frequently every day. Is the number 5 reset to zero after one (or several?) attempts? Or do failed face match attempts accululate until the 5th one always triggers a passcode requirement? I do use my phone in bright sunlight, where I sometimes I have to turn into the shade to get face ID to work. But these are not times when I am required to enter my passcode.

6. I have experienced this accidental emergency SOS before. It is very disruptive and couldn't possibly happen without my knowing about it.

Also, you didn't answer my (implicit) question: Is this 6-bullet rule set the same as it has always been, or has there been a change to it in a recent software update?

AP6Y_dg7va wrote:

Also, you didn't answer my (implicit) question: Is this 6-bullet rule set the same as it has always been, or has there been a change to it in a recent software update?

It always has been the same.

How could failure to match my face be happening now, without my knowing about it, when that never happened before? My face gets recognized frequently every day. Is the number 5 reset to zero after one (or several?) attempts? Or do failed face match attempts accululate until the 5th one always triggers a passcode requirement? I do use my phone in bright sunlight, where I sometimes I have to turn into the shade to get face ID to work. But these are not times when I am required to enter my passcode.

It doesn’t have to be your face… It could be any face of other person wanted to use your device or with interest what’s on it.

Try to reset Face ID then set it up again see if that helps.

AP6Y_dg7va wrote:

5. How could failure to match my face be happening now, without my knowing about it, when that never happened before? My face gets recognized frequently every day. Is the number 5 reset to zero after one (or several?) attempts? Or do failed face match attempts accululate until the 5th one always triggers a passcode requirement? I do use my phone in bright sunlight, where I sometimes I have to turn into the shade to get face ID to work. But these are not times when I am required to enter my passcode.

Depending on how you're handling it, what it happens to rub up against in a pocket that might wake it, etc. it very well could be triggering an unsuccessful unlock attempt without you realizing it's done so.

This happens to my wife all the time because of the way she carries it in her purse.

Hmmm... Thanks for that tip. There is someone else who sometimes picks up my phone to hand it to me when it rings or beeps an alert. The other person's face is registered on the device, and does get recognized, but I'm guessing that sometimes when that person is handing the phone to me, they are not looking at the phone, and so the phone sees what might be a face but can't recognize it. It's still a stretch that that could be happening 5 times in one day, but it could be happening 5 times in less than 6 days.

Thanks for your patience iW00 in walking with me all the way to this level of understanding.

Actually I am quite serious! Before the hair gets combed and the face refreshed, Face ID may not recognize me and require a password. It has happened to me often. I do not look too glorious and familiar early in the morning.

AP6Y_dg7va wrote:

This is an entirely unsatisfactory response.

I'm sorry that you find the truth "unsatisfactory", but we do not have the power to alter reality.