I like the iPhone X. I love the iPhone X. But Touch ID is faster. Period.

[DDustiNN]

Yeah yeah yeah, I know, so many other similar threads...

I’m not advocating returning the X. I’m not saying any other iPhone is overall better.

But facts are facts.

Forgetting evil twins and other lookalikes, the real problem with TouchID isn’t security. It’s speed.

Face ID is slower and less convenient than Touch ID. Period dot.

Since the iPhone 5S, I’ve trained myself to pick up the iPhone “thumb first”.

This means that historically, the phone is already on it's way to being unlocked, or is already so, by the time I get it anywhere near my face.

There were basically 3 variables in the unlock process... cleanliness/dryness of finger, cleanliness/dryness of the home button itself, and what kind of mood the iPhone itself was in on a given day.

Yes, there were rare occasions where it didn’t work for some unknown reason. But the vast majority of unlock attempts were, for me, completed before I could even look at the phone.

Face ID is great in theory. But there are apparently way more variables in the unlock process.

Angle of your face. Height and angle of the phone. Quality/angle of the initial facial scans.

All I know is I have gone from near instantaneous unlocks to often completely unsuccessful unlocks, something which happened with TouchID on only a very small handful of instances.

I have had FAR more unsuccessful or highly delayed unlock attempts in 3 days of X ownership than I did with TouchID over the course of 4 years.

I’m not returning the X, in the hopes that machine learning will eventually kick in and the unlock process will become as reliable and instantaneous as TouchID. But I’m not holding my breath.

The big takeaway here is that in general, Touch ID rendered the phone ready to use before I was actually ready to use it, while FaceID has me ready to use the phone before the phone is ready.

*EDIT* The opinions expressed above, while factual for me, are not necessarily facts for everyone.

All of this mirrors my exact thoughts and experience, 100%. Every single point.

But that aside, I do quite like the iPhone X. Hopefully I get used to the Face ID the save way I did with the first release of Touch ID (which was originally slow as well). I do hope the Face ID speed improves in future iterations.

 

[Ferreal]

ggdf

 

[DDustiNN]

No, it's not.

Yes, it is. Fact.

I often see the blank Face ID screen and spinning icon while it authenticates, before loading the home screen. Even when I’m already holding the screen up. If I turn it off, then back on with a quick touch and swipe, I have to wait for the Touch ID screen every time. With Touch ID (v2), there was zero waiting. It loaded instantly. As soon as the screen came on, it was already leaving the lock screen and starting the home screen animation.

There is literally nothing for you to argue here.

 

[Knowimagination]

Touch ID is certainly technically faster to unlock than Face ID.

But in my days with Face ID it is immensely more useful, natural, and seemingly overall faster in my day to day use. The fact that it will only get better from here is amazing to me.

 

[boshii]

Touch ID is only faster to unlock.

Face ID is better for everything else.

 

[Iphone6crazy]

Well after having the phone for 5 days I’m a fan of the face ID...I have had no problems with it and it has become second nature to be swiping up as I start to look at the phone...I personally feel its just as fast and as the days go by I believe it is learning. An example is that I was at the dentist yesterday and had a mold plate in my mouth the face id did not recognize me so I had to put the passcode in shortly after I reopened the phone but with the mold in my mouth again it instantly opened. I can only imagine it is going to get better.

 

[missbing]

I'm seeing it to be equally as fast as TouchID. I found if you swipe up as soon as you look at the phone, it will unlock right away. Don't wait until you see the unlock icon to swipe up.

 

[Moi Ici]

FaceID is much more convenient for me. Especially for reading notifications on the lock screen while keeping them private when the phone knows it’s not me holding it. Logging into any app that uses FaceID is a dream. Just open and it logs in. No adjusting my hand for touchID.... it just logs in.

Apple Pay feels better now that I don’t have to hold my thumb in a specific spot to authenticate, and pulling up my wallet from anywhere with the double tap on the home button is fantastic. Having my phone on a dock on my desk means my phone unlocks for me without having to pick up my phone or type in my pin, a quick glance will do the trick. I love it.

But you still have to swipe up the screen, that is, reach for the phone.

 

[Oridus]

But you still have to swipe up the screen, that is, reach for the phone.

However when it’s on my desk and I just want to read notifications, just a tap of the screen and done. As far as swiping on the screen, why all of a sudden is this such a huge ordeal? We’ve swiped to unlock for ages... it was replaced with a press to unlock with Touch ID in recent versions of iOS. Either way, you’re performing movement.

I feel FaceID is far more convenient for me, of course YMMV.

 

[DDustiNN]

Touch ID is certainly technically faster to unlock than Face ID.

But in my days with Face ID it is immensely more useful, natural, and seemingly overall faster in my day to day use. The fact that it will only get better from here is amazing to me.

Touch ID is only faster to unlock.

Face ID is better for everything else.

I like when it works without me even realizing it. Like when I open my bank app, or something else that wants to authenticate, I just feel the little vibration and see that Face ID did it’s thing already. In these instances, it’s faster, since I don’t have to take the extra step of reaching for the home button to scan my fingerprint. But yeah, when actually unlocking the device (which I do far more often), it’s definitely slower, and fails more, than Touch ID.

 

[Cmd-Z]

I often see the blank Face ID screen and spinning icon while it authenticates, before loading the home screen. Even when I’m already holding the screen up. If I turn it off, then back on with a quick touch and swipe, I have to wait for the Touch ID screen every time.

Then you either have a bad Face ID calibration, or you may have a defective X. What you describe is not at all what I or many others here have experienced.

 

[DDustiNN]

Then you either have a bad Face ID calibration, or you may have a defective X. What you describe is not at all what I or many others here have experienced.

It only happens for a second, but it’s still noticeable. What I described makes it sound like I’m sitting there waiting, but it really is only one second. And it’s only when I wake the phone and swipe immediately as the screen is turning on. It’s just noticeable because Touch ID has a zero second wait time.

It’s this screen. I managed to snag a screen shot (which was quite difficult, given the extremely short time it’s on screen). This is what you see in between the lock screen and home screen, if you swipe fast enough to unlock before Face ID finishes.

 

[Knowimagination]

One thing I have found is that I find lockscreen notifications much more useful now that I have Face ID. With Touch ID I wouldn't even use lockscreen notifications because I would have to tap the notification move my thumb down to read and then it would launch the app. Now I just look at my notification and tap it and go straight in to the content.

Subtle difference, but it as actually made a big change in my usage scenario.

 

[iPhoneXman]

I love the FaceID and feel it is just as fast. I hated TouchID. Sweaty and wet hands it doesn't work. Cold weather with gloves.... Nope. My thumb was always cramped to hold the button. I would often press it and accidentally double tap and the Apple Pay would come up. Killed me. It was a disaster. Now I simply raise the phone and swipe up all at the same time. I don't wait for the animation. It just works.

 

[Cmd-Z]

It only happens for a second, but it’s still noticeable. What I described makes it sound like I’m sitting there waiting, but it really is only one second. And it’s only when I wake the phone and swipe immediately as the screen is turning on. It’s just noticeable because Touch ID has a zero second wait time.

It’s this screen. I managed to snag a screen shot (which was quite difficult, given the extremely short time it’s on screen). This is what you see in between the lock screen and home screen, if you swipe fast enough to unlock before Face ID finishes.

I've seen that maybe twice and only for just a fraction of a second, certainly not long enough to take a screen shot of it. Sounds like you have something wrong there.

 

[flat five]

It only happens for a second, but it’s still noticeable. What I described makes it sound like I’m sitting there waiting, but it really is only one second. And it’s only when I wake the phone and swipe immediately as the screen is turning on. It’s just noticeable because Touch ID has a zero second wait time.

It’s this screen. I managed to snag a screen shot (which was quite difficult, given the extremely short time it’s on screen). This is what you see in between the lock screen and home screen, if you swipe fast enough to unlock before Face ID finishes.

i like when i see that thing spinning instead of seeing a lock..
it means you don't have to do anything and the phone is about to open.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Looney01]

Does anyone know if FaceID on the current iPhone X improve speed, accuracy and distance over time the more you use it? I think I read somewhere that it does improve the more you use it but not sure if that’s true.

 

[justinTlME]

Touch ID was definitely NOT faster for me. I had a hard time getting it to work half the time I would say. Face ID is a better solution for me.

 

[44267547]

I love the FaceID and feel it is just as fast. I hated TouchID. Sweaty and wet hands it doesn't work. Cold weather with gloves.... Nope. My thumb was always cramped to hold the button. I would often press it and accidentally double tap and the Apple Pay would come up. Killed me. It was a disaster. Now I simply raise the phone and swipe up all at the same time. I don't wait for the animation. It just works.

I like touch ID, but you make some good points here. With Face ID, you do eliminate a lot of the problems with touch ID in different conditions and how your fingerprint would react.

 

[Black Tiger]

Yeah yeah yeah, I know, so many other similar threads...

I’m not advocating returning the X. I’m not saying any other iPhone is overall better.

But facts are facts.

Forgetting evil twins and other lookalikes, the real problem with TouchID isn’t security. It’s speed.

Face ID is slower and less convenient than Touch ID. Period dot.

Since the iPhone 5S, I’ve trained myself to pick up the iPhone “thumb first”.

This means that historically, the phone is already on it's way to being unlocked, or is already so, by the time I get it anywhere near my face.

There were basically 3 variables in the unlock process... cleanliness/dryness of finger, cleanliness/dryness of the home button itself, and what kind of mood the iPhone itself was in on a given day.

Yes, there were rare occasions where it didn’t work for some unknown reason. But the vast majority of unlock attempts were, for me, completed before I could even look at the phone.

Face ID is great in theory. But there are apparently way more variables in the unlock process.

Angle of your face. Height and angle of the phone. Quality/angle of the initial facial scans.

All I know is I have gone from near instantaneous unlocks to often completely unsuccessful unlocks, something which happened with TouchID on only a very small handful of instances.

I have had FAR more unsuccessful or highly delayed unlock attempts in 3 days of X ownership than I did with TouchID over the course of 4 years.

I’m not returning the X, in the hopes that machine learning will eventually kick in and the unlock process will become as reliable and instantaneous as TouchID. But I’m not holding my breath.

The big takeaway here is that in general, Touch ID rendered the phone ready to use before I was actually ready to use it, while FaceID has me ready to use the phone before the phone is ready.

*EDIT* The opinions expressed above, while factual for me, are not necessarily facts for everyone.[/QUOTE
I agree with you. The X is much like the iPhone 5s’s Touch ID; suspect that it will get better and faster in successor phones, but for now it is new tech and it simply isn’t perfected yet. Touch ID on 5s vs 8 is night and day.

[doublepost=1510130437][/doublepost]

I keep seeing this argument, and I don’t see how it’s a persuasive defense of Face ID.

First and foremost, the possibility of a better second gen doesn’t change the experience one bit for someone using an X today. Second, X buyers paid the highest price ever for an iPhone. It’s not like Apple cut people a discount in recognition of the fact that the tech isn’t mature. Third, Face ID is marketed as a flagship feature, not a beta product. And fourth, nobody would be bothered by Face ID’s growing pains if it existed side by side with Touch ID, but it doesn’t. They killed a much-beloved feature and bragged that the replacement was clearly superior, and that doesn’t seem to be the reality for many users.

For those who feel strongly, the iPhone 8 is readily available instead, complete with Touch ID. Name one new tech that wasn’t replaced with something faster later on. It’s not an excuse, it’s just reality. Gen 1 of every Apple product is flawed. Name one that wasn’t. But I actually agree with you: it is frustrating.

 

[meikdunj]

FaceID is brilliant and the future. Touch ID is antiquated. I do not miss it one bit.

 

[ajspurs]

It's dependant on the person too.

I have generally sweaty hands, so I found myself having to enter my passcode more often than using my fingerprint. So for me, face ID is a revelation. I love it.

 

[1rottenapple]

Coming from someone who dropped 1150 last year on an unlocked iPhone 7 Plus I skip the X and got the 8 Plus. (Gave the 7 to my dad who needed a new iPhone). Face ID is a first gen product. It has come cool applications like knowing if it’s you looking at the screen and blocking you from seeing important notifications but I prefer Touch ID at this time. Heck I want both. Fingerprint scanner under the screen.

 

[Newtons Apple]

What made you return it?

After a few days the keyboard was causing more problems that I wanted. The size of the 8+ does not bother me and after three plus models . . . . Well my next new phone will be the X Plus!

 

[woodekm]

I love justifications when something sucks. But then again, you just dropped a grand on it. Eh. You'll get used to it.

Suddenly not hearing that touch ID is "too fast" anymore! LOL!