Turn off Face ID for Photos

jaylee1956 wrote:

I have it OFF, and it will not let me see my photos with out my Face ID!

As it says at Settings > Apps > Photos > Use Face ID, which is presumably what you turned off:

”Face ID or your passcode is required to view the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums.”

You cannot view Photos unless your iPhone is unlocked.

When you try to open the Photos app and your iPhone asks you to authenticate with Face ID, this is not a default or built-in requirement imposed by the Photos app. It is an optional app-lock feature that has been enabled on the iPhone.

If you did not enable it yourself, then it is possible that someone else who has access to the iPhone enabled it. Therefore, the claim that “hundreds of people are experiencing this” does not indicate that it is a problem affecting hundreds of iPhones. It simply means that those users may have enabled the Require Face ID option for the Photos app.

The process is very simple, and it applies to supported apps in general:

To require Face ID for Photos:

1. On the Home Screen, touch and hold (or firmly press) the Photos app icon.
2. Tap Require Face ID.
3. Authenticate with Face ID when prompted.
4. The Photos app will now require Face ID authentication before it can be opened.

To remove the Face ID requirement:

1. Touch and hold the Photos app icon.
2. Tap Don’t Require Face ID.
3. Authenticate with Face ID if prompted.

The same option can be used with other supported apps as well. So, if Photos suddenly starts asking for Face ID, check whether Require Face ID has been enabled for the app before assuming that it is an iOS or Photos app malfunction.

The pictorial representation below shows the exact steps for enabling and disabling this feature.