Level 1

32 points

FaceID stops working until you restart the phone. Camera is fine though.

Since having my iPhone X I have to restart it at least once a day. FaceID will work happily and then you will go to login, last time could have been 5 minutes ago. And it will say: Passcode needs to be entered to enable FaceID. Different message to the one you get when you restart the phone. Once you get this it won’t work again until you restart the phone. Am on latest IOS and have reset up FaceID a couple of times but still keeps happening. Any ideas?!

iPhone X, iOS 11.1, FaceID

Posted on Nov 20, 2017 12:34 PM

47 replies

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Nov 21, 2017 8:50 AM in response to Simoker

Simoker,

Thanks for going through that information and following up with us. I recommend that you contact Apple Support for additional help.

Cheers!

Nov 30, 2017 9:51 AM in response to Simoker

I took my iPhone too service and I got new iPhone X. There is no way to fix that.

Feb 20, 2018 2:41 AM in response to Simoker

Same problem here: iPhone X black 64G v11.2.5

I think I'll go to the Apple store and ask for a substitution.

Simoker Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 21, 2017 7:35 AM in response to Teddy_B

Thank you for that, appreciated.

I had already reviewed those suggestions online and unfortunately they aren't valid. First thing in the morning obviously the 4 hour one is true but not a few minutes later when it has worked multiple times. Also to hit these multiple times a day would seem a but unlikely.

I met my first other iphone X user earlier today and he is having the same problems i'm afraid.

Other suggestions? Feels very software orientated as a problem.

Nov 25, 2017 4:20 PM in response to asherwood

Hope that is something wrong with software, not with hardware...

More and more people are getting exactly the same problem - Face ID locks, iPhone asks for password and we have to restart iPhone to make Face ID work again...

Nov 27, 2017 3:51 AM in response to GoodvinTheFirst

Not work ;( I tried to restore DFU + iTunes, after that trying to restore from iCloud and as new - nothing works. After few minutes iPhone locks and I can’t use Face ID...

Good to hear that more and more people are getting the same problem - maybe it’s not hardware problem...

Simoker Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 29, 2017 11:37 AM in response to RockNFknRoll

Interesting, half a dozen X users I’ve now met have the same issue, most on a daily basis (including everyone on here) but today I met the first person with a white/silver X and they have not had it once.

Same IOS and firmware.

Other people getting the issue on white/silver phones?

Simoker Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 29, 2017 6:46 PM in response to asherwood

That is positive in a way!

Am on about 5th restart today, I accept I use my phone all day for work reasons, there must be a pattern to this issue but can’t spot it.

In simple code terms though it seems there isn’t enough retry Face ID recognition processes before locking ID out.

Maybe the retry is too quick and only has 10 attempts (which take couple of seconds) and now we are in winter (uk) people have scarves, hats etc which is throwing it out. Understandable but let retries happen?

Nov 30, 2017 2:28 PM in response to GoodvinTheFirst

After two days I got info that I'll get new iPhone and I have to wait about 5 days. I live in Poland, we don't have Apple Stores and that is why we have to wait. So all in all it's about one week time.

Simoker Author

Level 1

32 points

Dec 7, 2017 5:01 PM in response to sir_tessir

Thanks and pleased to hear that.

I know we had a post from Australia saying in summer they are having the problem but I haven’t had it once since landing in Barbados 7 days ago but everyone in UK I know (growing list) is still having it ... doesn’t feel like co-incidence but some response from Apple might be nice at some point!

Dec 10, 2017 12:19 AM in response to Simoker

I hoped the problem was solved by one of the many app updates. My iPhone x worked straight for 2-3 days i.s.o. reboot 2 times a day, but today, when I woke up the face recognition failed again and only started working after reboot. Perhaps interesting is that the 'lock' showed at startup did not shake, so it is not that the phone does not recognize me, but it just has apparently the process face recognition not working.

Tomorrow I am going to call Apple service again and discuss what can be done... I am still not confident that the solution is a new iPhone x..

al_woon

Level 1

4 points

Jan 2, 2018 5:59 PM in response to Simoker

This is really getting annoying for me as well. With previous iPhone my fingerprint works everytime. Now everyday I either have two choices: restart my iphone twice a day or use passcode everytime. Repeat that like 20 times everytime your iphone goes idle.

So frustrating.

Jan 24, 2018 8:43 AM in response to Simoker

Same problem here, only works for a day then i have to restart phone & reset face ID, miss my iPhone 6 with thumb print, but it slowed done to much for me to keep, first time I have been disappointed in Apple.

Jan 29, 2018 1:33 PM in response to Idahowoodman

Just wanna my voice to this; basically same issue as everyone here and Face ID just stops working for no apparent reason seems like the camera doesn’t even try and only a restart fixes it but doesn’t fix it for long.

Disappointing to hear this seems to only be solved by a replacement but hey ho

Apr 2, 2018 3:47 AM in response to Tucker1066

Having the same issue. It only happens when I disconnect from WIFI. Even if I reconnect or turn on cellular Data, it won’t work unless I restart. Anyone else notice that once you disconnect from WiFi is when it happens?

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FaceID stops working until you restart the phone. Camera is fine though.