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With rumours of iPhone SE models dropping TouchID, options for immunosuppressed people to make in-store purchases, while remaining masked, and wearing (sun)glasses are seemingly constrained. What was previously a case of:
I have had zero issues using faceid with sunglasses either on or off.
 
NFC authentication is not like a debit card and does not expose your bank account.

NFC debit cards in Australia don't require PINs or any authentication. Someone has your card, they can rack up ~$2000/day in purchases, up to $200 per transaction. AND financial institutions have no obligation to reimburse for any of that which happens prior to your official notification of a stolen card and the stop being put upon it.
 
If Face ID can't validate when you're trying to pay, a little button appears that says, "Pay with passcode", so there's that option.

so you take your phone out, futz around with trying to get faceid to work, then get prompted to enter a PIN on your phone...

Why would you not just use a physical card that you know will work?
 
so you take your phone out, futz around with trying to get faceid to work, then get prompted to enter a PIN on your phone...

Why would you not just use a physical card that you know will work?
You seem to have an issue with absolutely everything. Use Apple Pay on your iPhone or don't. Get an Apple Watch or don't. Use a physical card or don't.

We're just here trying to help, but if you just rail against every suggestion and bit of information we give then we're gonna stop helping you.
 
You seem to have an issue with absolutely everything. Use Apple Pay on your iPhone or don't. Get an Apple Watch or don't. Use a physical card or don't.

I have already said the Apple Watch is a lifeboat solution, many posts ago, and that lifeboat was necessitated by the potential loss of TouchID based iPhones (see first post), if current iPhone SE rumours pan out.

We're just here trying to help, but if you just rail against every suggestion and bit of information we give then we're gonna stop helping you.

No, what I'm "railing" against is people who seem to be more invested in defending / championing FaceID, for some bizarre reason I can't quite fathom, than in actual solutions to my problem, especially given the question was solved by post #3.

TouchID is an accessibility technology for the immunocompromised community. If you don't think its loss is a big deal, perhaps you could recontextualise to a situation where you might feel empathy more easily. How would you react if a shopping centre decided to remove all its wheelchair ramps, and the solution people offered was "get out of your chair, and drag yourself up the stairs, your arms work OK", or "I don't see the problem, I can walk up stairs fine".

Offering a second-rate solution, and then getting offended when someone tells you the solution is second-rate and unworkable, is pretty close to peak-ableism.
 
The old iPhones with TouchID will still work after this week. Buying a watch to avoid having to move your sunglasses or typing a passcode is a bit much.
 
In other words, no.
While I understand your frustration with some of the unhelpful suggestions being offered in this thread, you haven't been completely clear on what your situation is, either. Like, why doesn't entering pin on the iPhone work for you? Is it just that you find that extra step inconvenient, or is there some more serious problem associated with that?

On my previous iPhone, I think it was an iPhone X, the FaceID kept failing on me -- it only worked about half the time. I kept having to enter the passcode to unlock the phone, but I didn't find it that inconvenient. I'm thinking the people suggesting to just use iPhone passcode also find it not that big a deal.
 
While I understand your frustration with some of the unhelpful suggestions being offered in this thread, you haven't been completely clear on what your situation is, either. Like, why doesn't entering pin on the iPhone work for you? Is it just that you find that extra step inconvenient, or is there some more serious problem associated with that?

I was very clear about how simple the process is with TouchID in the first post. If I say I don't want to have to mess around with entering PINs on the phone, when I've made a specific point about my thumb falling naturally on the home button while taking the phone out of a pocket, that should be enough.

On my previous iPhone, I think it was an iPhone X, the FaceID kept failing on me -- it only worked about half the time. I kept having to enter the passcode to unlock the phone, but I didn't find it that inconvenient.

I would have returned that iPhone for a refund. Only working half the time? That's laughably bad for any technology.

I'm thinking the people suggesting to just use iPhone passcode also find it not that big a deal.

For THEM. For them it's not a big deal, and here we see the problem of ablism and privilege in a perfect moment of clarity - people refusing to accept that their life experience is not universally applicable to other people.
 
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I use my Apple Watch for many things, but I would have an Apple Watch just for the convenience of Apple Pay alone.

Not with sunglasses, and a hat. At least, my iPad Pro can't, and if you have to drop the security level down, there's a real risk your financial providers will refuse to allow account access.
I don't believe that's accurate. Banking apps that use face ID only know if the face ID attempt succeeded or failed. They don't know if you've enabled the setting for Face ID with a mask.
Well, Apple are clear that it's not designed to work with Sunglasses while wearing a mask, which is my use case, so it's a no for me. 🤷‍♂️
The good news is that it will work in some scenarios. My prescription sunglasses have worked well with Face ID (not all do) and I have the setting on to recognize me with a mask. I just put them on with a baseball cap and a KN95 and Face ID worked flawlessly multiple times in a row.
 
I was very clear about how simple the process is with TouchID in the first post. If I say I don't want to have to mess around with entering PINs on the phone, when I've made a specific point about my thumb falling naturally on the home button while taking the phone out of a pocket, that should be enough.
What I got from your post is that you *preferred* the convenience of Touch ID and not having to enter the passcode. I didn't get the sense that having to enter the passcode is a deal-breaker.

I would have returned that iPhone for a refund. Only working half the time? That's laughably bad for any technology.
It was a hand-me-down from a friend. Plus, my mobility issues make it hard for me to get a good scan of my face for the FaceID. I assumed the scan wasn't good enough, and since I didn't really mind having to enter the passcode, I never bothered trying to scan my face again.

For THEM. For them it's not a big deal, and here we see the problem of ablism and privilege in a perfect moment of clarity - people refusing to accept that their life experience is not universally applicable to other people.
Many people just don't have direct experience with disabilities or people with disabilities. They can't help but be ignorant of different life experiences. Holding that against them won't get you anywhere. Jumping to accusations of ablism just causes more friction, and I've found life goes smoother if I keep such accusations as a last resort, after other more gentle means of explaining and persuasion have failed.
 
With rumours of iPhone SE models dropping TouchID, options for immunosuppressed people to make in-store purchases, while remaining masked, and wearing (sun)glasses are seemingly constrained. What was previously a case of:

  1. reach into pocket and grab phone, where your thumb naturally falls on the home button.
  2. move phone directly to the reader, and wait for the beep / haptic vibration.
  3. put phone back in pocket.
...as easy as using an NFC Debit / Credit card, but without spending limits, and biometrically secure, is now less simple, and less secure.

I have a vague understanding that an Apple watch can be used to do purchases, but I've never had an interest in owning one, so have no real understanding of the user-experience.

Does it need to have its own cellular connection, or does it require you to have your iPhone on your person to ride its internet connection, if you have a GPS(and wifi?)-only model.
Apple Pay works on ALL models of Watch going back to the Sport. You don’t need the internet to use it, just double tap the side button to bring up the wallet.

Security is taken care of by a passcode you only enter if the watch is removed and put back on. As it’s strapped to your wrist it’s largely theft-proof anyway. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a stolen Apple Watch before.

I only ever use mine for steps, time and payments. I turn off all the GPS and heart stuff and power it off at night and easily get 2 days of battery out of it.

Don’t buy Apple’s watch straps when you can get good enough ones off Amazon for a tenth of the price.
 
I use my Apple Watch for many things, but I would have an Apple Watch just for the convenience of Apple Pay alone.
Yeah, I get that a lot of Apple Watch owners have that experience. Having to wear an apple watch tightly around my wrist would be net negative for me compared to the current TouchID situation, which is why I'm looking at this as a least-worst option.

I don't believe that's accurate. Banking apps that use face ID only know if the face ID attempt succeeded or failed. They don't know if you've enabled the setting for Face ID with a mask.

They don't know if one of the fingers (or face) you have saved is for another person (eg a partner / emergency person), but the T&Cs of every financial provider I have are very clear that having another person's biometrics in the device *at all* is a violation of the terms of enabling Touch/FaceID access to your account(s).

I would expect similar smallprint for setting it in a less-secure setting.

The good news is that it will work in some scenarios. My prescription sunglasses have worked well with Face ID (not all do) and I have the setting on to recognize me with a mask. I just put them on with a baseball cap and a KN95 and Face ID worked flawlessly multiple times in a row.

Nice that it works for you, but planning for the worst case scenario is what I'm doing.
 
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What I got from your post is that you *preferred* the convenience of Touch ID and not having to enter the passcode. I didn't get the sense that having to enter the passcode is a deal-breaker.

If I have to use a passcode, I may as well just always use my NFC card, and eliminate the will-it-work-or-not, but then I lose biometrics - which is why I was asking about Apple Watch in the first place.

It was a hand-me-down from a friend. Plus, my mobility issues make it hard for me to get a good scan of my face for the FaceID. I assumed the scan wasn't good enough, and since I didn't really mind having to enter the passcode, I never bothered trying to scan my face again.

I have a 4th Gen iPad Pro, and even on my unmasked face at home, it's slower, less reliable, and less usable than TouchID on my phone.
 
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OP, as someone who also has plenty of disabilities that need accommodations…

planning for the worst case scenario is what I'm doing.
And that’s exactly why you are getting nowhere on this thread.
You are jumping to conclusions on how things are supposed to work before you’ve ever even tried them.
As you have said, you don’t have a Face ID iPhone. You don’t know if it works with a mask and sunglasses because you haven’t tried it.
Same goes for the watch, you are already convinced that you won’t like having it on your wrist before you have even touched it.
The obvious solution? Like most things in life, trial and error.
Apple and almost every carrier in the US have a fairly generous return policy, and absolutely no one is forcing you to give up your current touch ID iPhone. It will continue to function just fine, even after the new SE is introduced.
But take advantage of that return policy. Purchase the iPhone SE, and actually see if the Face ID with a mask option works. Just because it doesn’t work on your iPad, which doesn’t even have the same option I believe, does not necessarily mean it won’t work on your new iPhone.
You might get it, try it, and it works perfectly. Who knows, you might like it even better than the previous system.
Same goes with the watch, don’t assume you won’t like it before you have even opened the box. These are exactly the situations that the return policy was designed for.
Additionally, there are extensive accessibility settings regarding both FaceID and the Watch, definitely mess around with those to get a system working that you like.
Most importantly, don’t go into it immediately thinking “new thing bad, old thing good”. Actually try to use the new thing before you form an opinion on it.
 
I have a 4th Gen iPad Pro, and even on my unmasked face at home, it's slower, less reliable, and less usable than TouchID
The latest iPhones have a newer Face ID sensor than the fourth GEN iPad Pro, and either way they really aren’t comparable.
The iPhone has more accommodation options for mask usage. You also hold your phone completely differently than you do an iPad, significantly closer to your face.
Once again, actually try things before you just decide “thing bad”.
Face ID on my iPhone works about 95% of the time, meanwhile it works about 70% of the time on my iPad. Different things work differently and just because one thing works a certain way doesn’t mean that you can automatically assume the other thing works the same way.
 
Does it need to have its own cellular connection, or does it require you to have your iPhone on your person to ride its internet connection, if you have a GPS(and wifi?)-only model.
No, it doesn’t need to have its own cellular connection, nor is it required to have the iphone nearby when paying for purchases. The only time it needs internet is when you’re setting up for the first time, adding your cards to it.
 
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Thanks folks, potentially thats a lifeboat for folks who are being left behind by losing TouchID.

Is the biometrics tagged to your wrist itself, or does it need to do a kind of 2FA with FaceID/ TouchID via another iOS device for each time you put it on to authorise that wear session?
The only 2FA is the device passcode. You have to enter it when you put on the watch, then you don’t worry about it until you take it off again.
 
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But you can take off the sunglasses and hat right?

At some point you need to expect that you have to make your own accommodations too. If FaceID uses your face it needs to be able to see significant parts of it.

It does "double-team" with the watch though, so if you use the watch and the phone it's more tolerant:

Or just pay with the watch, obviously :D
The ipad doesn’t support unlocking with apple watch, though.
 
so you take your phone out, futz around with trying to get faceid to work, then get prompted to enter a PIN on your phone...

Why would you not just use a physical card that you know will work?
In most countries tapping with a physical card is only allowed up to a certain amount of money, whereas tapping with a phone (apple pay or google pay) has no limit other than your bank account balance or credit limit.
 
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