Face ID, like Touch ID can fail. If it fails enough times, you have to enter your passcode to unlock your iPhone X. When you enter your passcode after failing to unlock with Face ID, you help make it more accurate. Needless to say, that’s the route you ought to go and you’ll get fewer failed attempts in the future. If you’re in a hurry and just want to switch to passcode from the lock screen, you should tap the text that says ‘Face ID’.
Face ID on iPhone X is pretty fast. Normally, you only have to raise your device and it will be ready for use. If you’ve used Face ID for even a month, you won’t have too many misses but just in case you want to switch to passcode, there’s a pretty easy way to do it. The only trick is getting to the right screen.
When you look at your lock screen, you see the home indicator at the bottom. Just above it, you will see a line of text that says, swipe up to unlock. Normally, giving your device a single glance will be enough to unlock it but if Face ID fails and you swipe up, you will see a screen that says ‘Face ID’ in the middle. Tapping the text that says ‘Face ID’ will switch to passcode where, if you enter the correct code, your phone will be unlocked.
Fair warning though, it is not easy to get to this screen unless Face ID fails. At times, when Face ID does register your face but it isn’t sure it’s you, it will take you to this screen itself. You have the option to allow the iPhone X to scan your face again, or you can tap Face ID and enter the passcode for your device.
We kind of wish there was something like this for Touch ID. Touch ID tends to slow down with time. The sensor on older iPhone models isn’t as fast as the one on newer models, and newer versions of iOS aren’t optimized to work with older hardware. In the event that Touch ID fails, you have to wait for quite a few failed attempts before you’re given the option to switch to passcode. If for example, your hands are a little greasy or sweaty, Touch ID will fail on older iPhone models and you have to allow it to fail five times before you can see the passcode option.
There are ways to fix slow Touch ID but these fixes do have their limits which is why a quick option to switch to passcode on iPhone models would be helpful.
