Face ID randomly stops working for short periods of time.

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Level 1

4 points

Face ID randomly stops working for short periods of time.

Face ID stops working randomly on my iPhone 16 pro.

its happened on multiple occasions now - once a few weeks ago, once yesterday briefly, and again just now. It will stop working and fail 100% of Face ID attempts. I thought after the first time I just had gotten the angle wrong, but I can confidently say now that’s not the case. The oddest part is it will randomly start working again on it’s own after some time. When I open the camera i can see my face fine. And I’ve had this phone for years and it’s always worked fine so I don’t think it’s a settings issue.

for many things I can use my pin , but some apps won’t open without Face ID so I’m effectively locked out of those apps.

iPhone SE, iOS 13

Posted on Nov 4, 2026 7:48 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

tillu_code

Level 3

856 points

Nov 4, 2026 7:54 PM in response to Stone624

If it fails every try and then comes back by itself, the front camera is usually the thing dropping out, not a setting. Wipe around the front camera and try it without a case or a screen protector that covers that area. Then go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode and turn off Require Attention for Face ID. If it still dies for a while, Reset Face ID on that screen, set it up again, and restart the phone. For the apps that won't open, you can turn Face ID off just for those on the same screen so the passcode works instead.

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