Everybody loves Face ID … but what about us wretched few?

[Ernst Krenek]

Internet, with this forum no exception, is awash with praise for the phenomenal Face ID, and I have no doubt that it is for good reason. But I stand with quivering lower lip, struggling to make it work on my own shiny new X.

What I don’t find anywhere is: why the fails? What makes Face ID fail some users? Should one give up and take the unit back, is there something wrong with my TrueDepth system? I’ve set, reset and set up Face ID many, many times, reboots aplenty, unit resets, a wide variety of approaches to the face scanning process, low light, bright light, slowly turning my head, even more slowly turning my head, clockwise, counter, at a distance, at short range, in between … it is still slow at best, failing miserably at worst.

What am I and the other few misfortunates doing wrong? Is it a device fault or a face fault?

There have been a few threads on this, but they are usually quickly paved with happy posts from satisfied X owners.

Suggestions?

 

[cj31016]

I'm not in love with FaceID. It works, but I find it slow. If you're continuing to have serious problems, it may be worthwhile heading to the Apple Store, and possibly even getting an exchange. With that said, this is version 1.0. We all paid a G to be beta testers. There will be bumps in the road sadly.

 

[Ernst Krenek]

I'm not in love with FaceID. It works, but I find it slow. If you're continuing to have serious problems, it may be worthwhile heading to the Apple Store, and possibly even getting an exchange. With that said, this is version 1.0. We all paid a G to be beta testers. There will be bumps in the road sadly.

Indeed. However I’m bewildered by the diversity of reports. Some, well, most users appear to not even see the padlock open. They lift (or tap or press), swipe and there’s the home screen. I lift (or tap or press), swipe and … there’s the Face ID process window, suggesting the phone is working hard to recognise me. ”There’s something familiar with your face … oh, it’s you. Come on in.” Why consistently slow for some and consistently quick for others?

 

[pcorrado]

It’s growing on me. There are certain quirks that you have to work around (using the right distance, avoidng the tendency of trying to unlocking while holding my head up with my hand, blocking my mouth). Overall, I am impressed at how it works but touchid is undeniably faster. That said, faceID has some benefits that make it exciting for me to see how it progresses over the next couple of years.

I did retain faceID a few times before getting it just right and consistent.