Just got the X yesterday, been using it all day no issues. This morning took a drive with my shades on, then I got out of the car and tried unlocking my X and it continually failed until eventually I put in my passcode. However right after that, it unlocked with my sunglasses no problem. Looks like the machine learning took over. pretty cool.
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FaceID failed when I put on my Oakley sunglasses
- Thread starter JRoDDz
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It's because they are polarized, which has happened to others. It's trying to read your eyes, which you can also disable the attention awareness setting as well. But I agree, the machine learning process is really is unique on its own and How it adapts to your face over time.
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Have RayBans that don’t work with FaceID. Must be some coating applied to the glass that blocks the IR light. 
My Face ID fails every 5 minutes without adding anything to my face. It’s only consistent if I’m standing up. I should have scanned my face when I was laying in my bed, lol!
No, most of my sunglasses are polarized and Face ID never had an issue with me wearing them.
It works fine with all my Oakleys but, it didn’t work the first time I tried it with a set of polarized Batwolves. Now it works every time, with or without them. Very cool that it seems to have adapted.
Your sunglasses are not everybody else's experience. Every pair of sunglasses vary, there have been numerous members mentioning certain sunglasses being problematic, including others in this thread attesting to this. My RayBans and Maui Jims did NOT work, but my Oakleys did. Even Craig Federighi stated that Face ID may not work with every pair of sunglasses. Even with Oakleys that have completely opaque/reflective lenses.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/faceid-will-work-with-sunglasses.2082104/
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/14/face-id-works-with-sunglasses-thwarts-thieves/amp/
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Polarization is affected by the sensors trying to penetrate past, which others have already attested to variable experiences based on the sunglasses used. Not all sunglasses will work efficiently, regardless if they polarized due to reflectivity/opaque.
However, If your eyes are completely obscured, you need to disable Attention under Settings- General - Face ID, which requires the scanners to be able to see your eyes. The attention awareness setting makes a difference.
"In his reply, Federighi said that Face ID would work with “most, but not all” sunglasses. “Most sunglasses let through enough IR light that Face ID can see your eyes even when the glasses appear to be opaque."
http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2017/09/15/face-id-iphone-x-sunglasses
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You only have half the quote. Read:
But the speed isn’t the only question. Sunglasses, for instance, are fairly commonly worn outdoors. Federighi had mentioned in an email to a user that “most” sunglasses would work fine. I asked whether polarization was the problem. He said no.
“It turns out that polarization isn’t the issue — I have a set of polarized sunglasses that work just fine with Face ID. What it is is that different lenses have a different amount of infrared filtration. Most let enough IR through that through most lenses your eyes are visible to IR even if they’re not visible to the human eye,” says Federighi. “There are some lenses whose coatings block IR. In those cases the customer can just use a passcode or take them off.”
https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/15/i...answers-some-burning-questions-about-face-id/
The issue is relative to specific IR coatings, not polarization. Polarization and IR are two different things. Polarization is a means by which light waves are given a change of direction.
A lot of people are not letting the iPhone learn and expecting it to to know you no matter what. It’s like a child, put on sunglasses and your baby won’t recognize you at first. Over time, it learns. When faceid doesn’t recognize you and you enter your passcode, it’s learning off what is saw. The more it happens, the more accurate it gets. Mine works with sunglasses, safety glasses, hard hats, contacts in or out, glasses on or off, etc. I just don’t freak out when it doesn’t, I put in my passcode and let it do it’s thing.
Should I instead keep trying it over an over again until it works?!
Plus I don’t mind doing things that takes next to zero effort
Yes.
The way Face ID learns is by a failure followed immediately by entering a passcode when prompted. So if you try, fail, and then turn off the backlight and try Face ID again, it didn't learn from the prior failure.
For your particular situation, keep the sunglasses on, try Face ID, and if it fails type in your passcode when prompted. Try this a few times today from various angles, you'll have hits and misses but you're training it properly. If you never ever ever get a positive Face ID unlock then you have one of those rare sunglasses with an IR coating that is impenetrable. But it is far more likely that you just haven't trained your iPhone properly.
Note that if you turn off Attention Awareness it removes your eyeballs from the scan. Face ID works more consistently with Attention Awareness off, it scans the rest of your face looking for a positive ID.
Interesting and cool that it learned it. Amazingly, I've had no issues with Face ID in any scenario at this point. I have a polarized pair of Oakley's, prescription sunglasses, and also transition lenses in my daily prescription glasses. It has worked with all of them without issue at this point. So well actually that I've had all my family members try to unlock it to make sure it was actually doing something, lol. Luckily, none of them, including my son who looks just like me, have been successful.
Same here. Polarized sunglasses, prescription sunglasses, two different pairs of prescription glasses, contact lenses, naked eyes...works perfectly.
My concern about Face ID almost made me not want the iPhone X at all. I should have trusted Apple. It's one of their greatest innovations.
I didn’t say my experience was everyone’s. You said polarization was the issue. I said it was not. If it was, then why would my polarized glasses (about 5-6 pairs including Maui Jim’s, Gucci, etc) work?
As @boltjames has pointed out, and even part of your own quote, it seems it has to do with some glasses also blocking IR.
Hasn't that already been reiterated? Not every pair of sunglasses are going to work effectively with Face ID due the reflectivity/opaque. You Asking me why your other polarized sunglasses would work contrary to others will differ, as other forum members have already attested theirs do not and in other threads, others have had success. I have a multitude of different types of sunglasses of all different brands, but not all of them will work successfully with Face ID, but with attention and awareness disabled, that changes significantly.
As I already mentioned to you before, for those have inconsistent results with various sunglasses can disable attention awareness and that will increase the likeliness of Face ID unlock more successfully because the sensors are not Focusing on your eyes.