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iOS 14.5 Adds an Option to Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch if You're Wearing a Mask

anticipate said:
It does however make the phone slightly less secure. If ANYONE* with a mask on comes to the phone and is right next to you, while you are wearing the watch, and they swipe up, it'll unlock. If you are awake (and notice the haptic feedback or unlock sound on your wrist) you can indeed instantly re-lock it. If you are asleep though... or not paying attention (like at a restaurant, whatever), and have your watch on, someone could easily come up next to you with a mask on, or simply pick up your phone off the table, and unlock the phone.

And it doesn't have to be a mask. While just covering your face with a hand doesn't seem to work, (or having no face there at all, or a full face) any pair of eyes with something (like a napkin) covering the nose and mouth does unlock the phone if you are within a foot and have this enabled.

You just have to remember if you are worried about scenarios like this to emergency lock the phone manually (holding down both volume button and the power button) once to disable faceID for that time period. Or put it in your pocket.
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It says the watch has to be unlocked. If you are worried about scenarios where this could happen, couldn't you lock to watch to "disable" the feature...then unlock the watch again when ready?
 
DribbleCastle said:
Does anyone know yet if it requires the latest Apple Watch beta to work as well? Or is it just the iOS build alone?
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As I thought, it does require the latest Apple Watch beta build. Little riskier but I'm going for it.

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How about a solution that doesn't require buying a pricey accessory? Haven't worn a watch in decades anyway.
 
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A cunning plan to drive watch sales (only joking).

corona times makes me realise that it’s the display filling the front of the phone that I value and not Face ID.
 
JeffingTatum said:
It is simply false that “Right now, with a face mask on, Face ID does not work”.
One of the selling points of FaceID is that it intelligently adapts to changes in appearance and also that it simply isn’t using a flat photo of your face. If you’ve used a mask for more than a day or two it knows. I can imagine that most people saying this have probably only left their house once over the past year. If you consistently wear the same type of face mask the same way it easily learns. Worked on my last iPhone, continued to work on my new iPhone. A day of inconvenience, but by now most people should have it working.
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Hasn't worked for me in months—sometime after a point update to iOS 13. Even when it did, it certainly took more than "a day or two" for FaceID to learn the mask profile. It first worked inconsistently, then more or less consistently, then not at all. When I upgraded to the 12 Mini, I even tried adding the mask as one of my two FID profiles, with no luck.
 
Gix1k said:
I call BS!
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there are a lot of posts about it on MR. FaceID eventually learns your face better and if you get a lot of fails but immediately enter your Passcode afterwards, it learns. Sort of like „oh I probably should have gotten this!“

it works with any mask, white, black. Fabric doesn’t matter either. It DOES NOT work if I wear a beanie at the same time. Also for some reason it only works to unlock the phone itself. Not on apps that use FaceID for authentication
 
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Here is a demo if it working
FaceID still works normal with no mask or if your face can't be seen at all. But if it sees a covering it unlocks via the watch.
 
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bumpylumpy said:
Does anyone know if this means FaceID authentication is disabled completely (so ANY face will unlock with the paired watch nearby) or if it just relies on the top half of the face? In other words, if my wife grabs my phone and looks at it while I'm close by wearing my Apple Watch, will it unlock for her? Or only me, as long as the upper parts of our faces look different?
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It will only unlock for you.
 
svanstrom said:
HEEEEEEEEEEELL NO!!

I'm not having anyone picking up my phone and instantly getting it unlocked just because I'm nearby.
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fortunately for you, this feature is not enabled by default.
For many of this, this will be a welcome change.
 
I wonder if it makes use of U1 if both devices have the chip. Would perhaps help keep the distances between iPhone and Watch as short as possible.
 
Gix1k said:
It says the watch has to be unlocked. If you are worried about scenarios where this could happen, couldn't you lock to watch to "disable" the feature...then unlock the watch again when ready?
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yes you could...
 
PSeg90 said:
Crazy to pay $4.99 for something that Apple should have baked into iOS/watchOS.
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I’ve never paid for this app and it works perfectly. I think there was a premium version at some point but I never upgraded. Install it and you’ll see it works fine.

But I agree that such a basic feature should be baked into the OS. Leaving my iPhone at a casino in Vegas, and not realizing it until much later, is what prompted me to discover this app. It made no sense that my watch couldn’t just vibrate or alert me as soon as it lost connection with the iPhone. It would’ve saved me a lot of stress and time.
 
kingalien said:
Finally! If AW can unlock my Mac then it should be same for iPhone.
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Exactly. I've been saying this for years, but usually people on the forums would try to defend Apple by saying that it wouldn't be secure enough. Apparently Macs are ok to unlock with an Apple Watch, but not iPhones (oh, and of course there's the fact that it's completely optional). Anyway, I'm glad Apple finally figured this one out. Took them long enough.
 
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