iPhone 13 Does disabling attention-aware for Face ID turn off the IR light?

[Wolfpup]

I've at least somewhat concerned about the Face ID iPhones spraying my eyes with IR all the time, which is the default behavior.

Does anyone know for sure/verified if turning OFF "attention aware features" stops it from shining the IR light all the time, except in the few moments it takes to unlock your phone or what not?

How to Enable or Disable Attention Aware Features of Face ID on iPhone & iPad

If you have an iPhone or iPad with Face ID you may want to toggle the devices Attention Aware Features setting to be enabled or disabled. The Attention Aware Features uses the iPhone or iPad camera…

osxdaily.com

I use my iOS devices for HOURS a day, and don't want to have that IR shining on me the whole time, as they do by default.

 

[Shirasaki]

Are your eyes sensitive to infrared light? If so, you might consider buying an iPhone that has no Face ID (yet), like iPhone SE. Given how iOS is limited, I highly doubt IR light could be turned off at all.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Are your eyes sensitive to infrared light? If so, you might consider buying an iPhone that has no Face ID (yet), like iPhone SE. Given how iOS is limited, I highly doubt IR light could be turned off at all.

I’m very curious how anyone not albino would be sensitive to IR spectrum light. Sunlight contains this and anyone sensitive would’ve discovered this years before being old enough to have a FaceID phone.

The article the op linked is 2019 not sure how up to date it is regarding lowering volume or dimming display as my 12 series doesn’t exhibit that.

 

[lclev]

If it worries you then put tape over it. You might have to set your screen brightness manually.

 

[now i see it]

The flood Illuminator on FaceID iPhones can not be turned off no matter what settings you try to tweak.

 

[Wolfpup]

The flood Illuminator on FaceID iPhones can not be turned off no matter what settings you try to tweak.

Well I don't care if it's totally off (although it should be with both settings disabled), but I do want it off 99.9% of the time, save for when it's firing off to actually unlock the device.

Would be easy to test, but none of my devices have Face ID to test it.

 

[Shirasaki]

I’m very curious how anyone not albino would be sensitive to IR spectrum light. Sunlight contains this and anyone sensitive would’ve discovered this years before being old enough to have a FaceID phone.

The article the op linked is 2019 not sure how up to date it is regarding lowering volume or dimming display as my 12 series doesn’t exhibit that.

There is a chance that artificial IR is different from natural infrared light. Not an expert in here by any means though. Human has evolved so much that natural infrared has been adapted well enough, so most people would be ok with natural IR but not necessarily artificial IR.

 

[iMacDragon]

Well I don't care if it's totally off (although it should be with both settings disabled), but I do want it off 99.9% of the time, save for when it's firing off to actually unlock the device.

Would be easy to test, but none of my devices have Face ID to test it.

It is only firing when it's actually looking for a face specifically, which is basically when using face id or animoji mostly I think, oherwise it would be a huge waste of battery.

Face id would not work securely without it, so it's not possible to completely disable whilst keeping face id enable, or it would be no more secure than a standard web cam face detection, which are very insecure.

 

[Wolfpup]

It is only firing when it's actually looking for a face specifically, which is basically when using face id or animoji mostly I think, oherwise it would be a huge waste of battery.

Face id would not work securely without it, so it's not possible to completely disable whilst keeping face id enable, or it would be no more secure than a standard web cam face detection, which are very insecure.

But normally it's firing off continuously. PROBABLY because of that presence/attention detect thing, so I'm HOPING disabling that turns off the lights (except when needed by FaceID), but I can't find anything actually confirming it.

If I had one I could test it in a few minutes.

 

[iMacDragon]

But normally it's firing off continuously. PROBABLY because of that presence/attention detect thing, so I'm HOPING disabling that turns off the lights (except when needed by FaceID), but I can't find anything actually confirming it.

If I had one I could test it in a few minutes.

Actially fair, I had forgot about the aware features. If that's turned off it should only be when actually unlocking.

In a quick check, it looks like it briefly flashes every ~4 seconds or so if atention aware is turned on.

 

[Wolfpup]

Actially fair, I had forgot about the aware features. If that's turned off it should only be when actually unlocking.

In a quick check, it looks like it briefly flashes every ~4 seconds or so if atention aware is turned on.

Would you mind testing if the IR LED stays off when attention aware features is off?

Would set my mind at ease so I can at least gret a new iPhone and have one decision down ?

 

[iMacDragon]

I can confirm turning it off stop it when in use, the proximity sensor IR still fires, but that's existed on iphone since first version. Though I would also agree that low level IR like either uses is nothing to worry about anyway.

 

[Fred Zed]

I’ve always had the attention aware feature turned off. All good.

 

[uller6]

There is a chance that artificial IR is different from natural infrared light. Not an expert in here by any means though. Human has evolved so much that natural infrared has been adapted well enough, so most people would be ok with natural IR but not necessarily artificial IR.

No, there isn’t a distinction between “natural” IR and “artificial” IR. The dot illuminator on the iPhone is an infrared laser with a very narrow wavelength and rather low power, but this actually means it’s only delivering a much smaller slice of the entire infrared spectrum. Regular television remotes are more powerful IR emitters, and even standing outside on a cloudy day will expose you to far higher amounts of IR radiation at similar wavelengths as the iPhone emitter. In fact, a boiling pot on your stove emits far greater amounts of IR radiation than your iPhone. Nothing at all to worry about.

 

[Cayden]

Electrical engineer here with plenty of experience with wireless transmission methods. There is significantly more energy coming off of a cup of coffee or a plate of hot food than the IR emitter on any of the iPhones with FaceID, both in maximum/peak intensity, directionality, and average power. Unless you have sensitivity when looking at hot objects (which give off quite a bit of infrared light), you will be fine to keep it on. Visible light has even more energy than infrared, so simply looking at the screen would be more likely to cause irritation if it’s truly about the intensity of the light or the energy in the light. If you want to test it, get an older TV remote or any wireless remote. These use IR. Click and hold a button on the remote while pointing the top to your face. Again, this is significantly more energy than the IR emitter on the iPhone. If you don’t have any issues with a regular remote, you won’t have any issues with the IR emitter