iOS 16.1 Face ID not working

After trouble shooting my phone remotely with apple support, and they performing a remote diagnostic scan that said my phone was in perfect health, they set up an appointment at the Apple Store for me.

The Genius at the Apple Store did an advance diagnostic scan that did show that my TrueDepth camera had an issue. Unfortunately it was an out of pocket repair of $279 since my 13PM was out of warranty and I did not have AppleCare. Repair took 1 hour 20 mins. I was told by their genius that *IF* Apple announces a service program for TrueDepth cameras on the iPhone 13s, then my paid repair would be eligible for reimbursement.

I do not know what language this screenshot is in, but I assumed it had to do with Face ID options. I turned off the “require attention slider”, and lo and behold. I was able to register my face! I returned to the Face ID options and re-enabled the require attention slider. So far, it is working.

Thank you so much.!

I took it into the store she did what she called a “soft reset” and everything cleared right up. I thought she said down volume followed by hold up volume/power until it shuts off and then restarts. But when I googled it it had a different button sequence:

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

anyways she said it clears out all the cookies and cashe. So there is something in the update that gets hung up until you do that.

Then I was able to reset up the Face ID

Best of luck

I tried various forum suggestions, but here was my solution. I registered an "alternate face" with the "Require Attention" turned off. That worked, but only for a while. Then I thought about a suggestion that I make sure the camera lens was clean. When I checked it, I noted that my screen protector was cracked and the crack went through that area (of the lens) - couldn't see the crack until I started to lift my protector off (then I found it looked like the shell of a cracked hard-boiled egg!). I removed it, made sure the lens was clean, registered my face, and put on a new protector. So far everything now works great.

Thanks to all of the other posters with their suggestions for this. Don't know if mine will help, but I hope it does!

****Solution****

So my Face ID out of the blue stopped working. I have no idea why… weird glitch. My phone wouldn’t recognize my face at all. I followed all the steps recommended (turn Face ID off, create alt appearance, reset face id, software update, factory reset, etc) to no avail. I just assumed the hardware dealing with the Face ID failed internally and I was SOL. Weeks later I FINALLY have found the solution.

Bizarre that this is linked somehow but I went into settings and turned off iMessage and FaceTime. I reenabled both and noticed that my Apple ID wasn’t linked to either one. I linked my Apple ID to both FaceTime and iMessage and Wa-La…. My Face ID started working again. Hope this helps someone!

Hello, try restarting you iphone by holding the power button and volume up then shut down. Leave it off for 15-45 seconds then hold the power button to turn it back on. If the issue still persists try using methods from this forum: If Face ID isn't working on your iPhone or iPad Pro - Apple Support

If still unable to use face ID after trying all the following contact apple support. However they may not be open on thanks giving so you may need to try again later.

I am another customer who's Face ID magically stopped working after the 16.1 iOS update... Im on a iPhone 13 mini fyi.

This is 100% related to the software update iOS 16.1. So its a bug and hopefully Apple will fix it by next patch (currently 16.2 and the problem is still here yikes...) I have tho found a TEMPORARLY solution, and by temporarly i really mean it, it works for less than 5 min then the Face ID glitches again.. Here's the "fix/solution"

1. Lock the phone and lay it down with the SCREEN SIDE(front camera) down on a flat surface.
2. Press the power button to light up the sceen.
3. Slightly lift/tilt up the bottom edge of the phone so u can manage to swipe upwards to unlock. (without lifting the whole phone).
4. After the swipe lay it down again just like it was before. And wait 2 seconds.
5. Now lift up the phone & point it towards your face and it will lock up without a problem.

IMPORTANT: The reason behind step 1, 2 & 3 is because this only works if its the FIRST attempt to scan the face/unlock... Since it only works on the first try you cant just hold the phone in your hand and do step 4&5 unfortunately. Because if u do that, Face ID will have attempted to scan a face once (& fail) & this only works on the first scan attempt. If your on step 3 & you accidently lift up the phone to high so the front cam tries to scan a face and fails(leaving you with 2nd attempt to scan a face) then u have to re-do everything from step 1… meaning > unlock the phone with passcode then procceed from step 1 and onwards again.

IMPORTANT: For some reason this only works on a FLAT horizontal SURFACE (straight horizontal angle) when ur doing step 1...

After doing these steps the Face ID will work for like 5 minutes if even that. Then it glitches again and u have to re-do the steps if u want it to work for another minute lol.

So i wouldnt call it a solution/fix just a weird interaction to unglitch the dot cam/Face ID..

For people with this same issue that resetted their Face ID in hope to fix it and are now stuck with setting up a new Face ID & only getting ”Lower/Higher your phone” or ”Face ID is not avalible right now” while doing so these steps also works for that..

tons and tons of people got this exact issue with Face ID after iOS 16, this is NOT a coincidense.. I haven't seen or heard a WORD from Apple about this issue and its been ongoing since September.. Not okay

I removed my screen protector and it worked. I have a brand new iPhone 14 Pro.

scs_ppc wrote:

I updated to 16.1 on Monday and today my Face ID is no longer working, rebooted, cleared Face ID and now I cannot register a Face ID. I am able to place my face in the square but it tells me to place iPhone lower or higher. I tried adjusting the iPhone to no avail.

If Face ID isn't working on your iPhone or iPad Pro - Apple Support

Same here on a 13 Pro Max. It stopped working, so I reset Face-ID, face not recognised on setup try.

Called Apple Support for a replacement.

Day after, able to setup Face-ID again. Worked for 1hr. then iPhone didn't check Face-ID but asked for PIN/PW again.

Reset Face-ID, face not recognised on next Face-ID setup try.

Waiting for the replacement device now.

I got it to work. Rotate your head at the first screen and then hit continue.

Hey everyone, I just updated to 16.1.2 and the Face ID works again! iPhone 13 pro.

I had the same issue.. Completely random but I removed my screen protector and it started working again.. I updated to 16.2

Thank you so much! Took my screen protector off and was also very cracked. Now all fixed!!!

i am having the same issue and local apple IT can’t find a solution as well.

I manage to chance upon a forum and this works for me.

but Face ID is still not stable. But at least I manage to setup and this is definitely not my hardware issue

Workaround For Face ID Not Working iOS 16

Apparently, Face ID will work if you place your iPhone screen down before you pick it up to scan your face!