Face ID Visible IR Light?

[stupendusboi]

I was just unlocking my X in the dark using Face ID and saw two red flashes of light on both sides of the earpiece. Are these the IR lights used for Face ID? I thought infrared was invisible to humans?

 

[alecgold]

I was just unlocking my X in the dark using Face ID and saw two red flashes of light on both sides of the earpiece. Are these the IR lights used for Face ID? I thought infrared was invisible to humans?

It should invisible and if there is any visibility it would be blinded by the brightness of the screen. Also afaik there is only one IR beam, not two?!

 

[Cergman]

I see what you are referring to as well. When FaceID unlocks in pure darkness, you can see a dot on either side of the notch blinking a faint burgundy color.

 

[5pctoff]

Yep, I've seen the red light coming from the left side when I use my phone in bed. I'm not 100% sure if I've seen it coming from the dot projector on the right side, but possible 🙂

 

[TechNismo]

Don't worry. We are all on the same boat! Experienced it twice so far.

 

[WolfSnap]

In really dark locations, Apple says you may be able to see the red light. It's faint and hard to see, but, you can see it. It's normal, and expected.

 

[C DM]

The same kind of thing applied and really still applies to the proximity sensor as I recall, where some people have been able to see it sometimes in darkness.

Safety section at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208108 also talks about this.

 

[caoimhin]

So, when I look at the dot projector and flood illuminator through a camera (through which IR aid captured and displayed as visible light), I notice that the flood illuminator blinks constantly. Even when attention awareness is switched off.

Try it yourself—look at the notch using another phone’s camera, or the view screen of a point and shoot.

Any idea what it’s doing? Any significant effect on battery?