This is interesting. I don't think it has much to do with the contacts but interesting symptom nonetheless.
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iPhone X Face ID and contact lenses
- Thread starter Brandthunder
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[doublepost=1510463016][/doublepost]Likely this is what is happening. When you take your lenses out you probably start holding the phone too close for Face ID to work (because you can only see the screen up close without your lenses in). Try holding the phone further away as Face ID needs to scan your entire face
Obviously without contacts in, you were so blind you picked up someone else’s phone.
I just got my phone last night- face id worked perfectly fine. I wear contacts. This morning while laying in bed, it did not work. No matter what angle, no matter how far away. Occasionally it did. Put my contacts in, immediately works no issue since. I will see if this happens more in the next few days/
Note that Face ID learns your face over time, especially the nuances like contact lenses.
When Face ID fails you in bed lying down or with a change to your eyeglasses/contacts/sunglasses, etc., it's important to use your passcode to unlock after the failure and not by putting the phone to sleep and waking it up again for a Face ID re-attempt.
Face ID learns by a failure followed by a security code entry. Let it fail, type in the passcode, after a few different tries you'll find that it works with contacts, eyeglasses, sunglasses, etc.
Type in the passcode. The camera will adapt to your 'new' face. After a couple of times, no more passcode needed, with or without contacts.
How long have you had your iPhone X? It can take a few days of trying Face ID, failing, and typing in your passcode for the system to learn the nuances of your face. It is important that after each failure you type in your passcode and do not put the phone to sleep, wake it up, and attempt again as Face ID interprets that as a stranger possibly trying to hijack your phone.
You can also go into settings and turn off attention awareness, in that instance the phone won’t be looking for your open eyes at all.
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Yes, same exact issue. Contact Lenses definitely impede Face ID.
Perhaps lower power or different types of contact lenses don’t affect Face ID as much.
But I have pretty strong and thick lenses, and Face ID has yet to work with my lenses out. You are not alone.
The struggle is real!
Hold the phone at what would be a normal viewing distance and it works. I noticed the same issue and it’s because I can’t see the screen unless I’m six inches away from it when my contacts are out — faceID was designed to be effective between a certain viewing distance. Too close and the dots from the projector likely aren’t dispersed enough to adequately cover your face.
I too am having problems with FaceID when I take my contacts OUT. With them in, it works near 100%. When I take them out, it works less than 25% of the time. When it fails and I enter the passcode, there’s no improvement and it will likely fail again. When I set it up, I did have them in, which is the case most of the time. I also wear reading glasses and sunglasses, both of which never cause any difficulties. My contacts are the same as another poster has, Acuvue Oasys for Astigmatism, but he claimed they worked fine, I’m assuming both in or out.
I suspect my eyes water when I have my contacts out, a side effect from having wore contacts most of my adult life, so when they are out, they can get a little puffy.
I suspect my eyes water when I have my contacts out, a side effect from having wore contacts most of my adult life, so when they are out, they can get a little puffy.
I noticed the same problem and realized it’s because I hold the phone a lot closer to my face when I don’t have my contacts in.
Just hold the phone farther away (even though it will be blurry) and it should unlock as usual. It has nothing to do with the contact lenses. Just the viewing distance.
Just hold the phone farther away (even though it will be blurry) and it should unlock as usual. It has nothing to do with the contact lenses. Just the viewing distance.
Face ID seems to be working flawlessly for me with spectacles and contact lenses. The difference is huge as I put tissue on my nose to prevent my spectacles from sliding down and it can still recognise me. I'm actually impressed.
It isn’t designed to ignore glasses per say. It uses infrared scanning which most glasses lens don’t block.
I’ve noticed that with iOS 11.2.5, FaceID now works when I take my contact lenses out. Nice to ‘see’ it was something they could fix.
Did you turn attention awareness to 'off'? Takes the eyes out of the equation. Worked for me.