Well that’s good news, right? It’s only taken a $2 trillion company, a year to develop it … hahaha. But it requires your Apple Watch as well. Pffft!
Taken from Engadget … Apple just released the first iOS 14.5 developer beta today, and one change may be more immediately useful than all the rest. Once installed, the update will allow users to unlock their iPhones via Face ID even while wearing a mask.
There is, unfortunately, one major caveat: the feature only works if iPhone’s owner is also wearing an Apple Watch. So long as the Watch itself is already unlocked, you’ll just need to look at your iPhone as usual; after that, you’ll get a haptic buzz on your wrist letting you know that the unlock was successful. As we understand it, the feature — which must be manually enabled before use — allows Face ID to proceed with an unlock despite much lower facial recognition accuracy because the nearby Watch has already been authenticated. You’ll also be able to lock your phone from your Apple Watch, though it’s worth noting that all other actions that might rely on a face unlock — like, say, approving an App Store purchase — can’t be handled this way.
Given the need for frequent mask use, Apple has attempted to address this issue last May with an update that prompts Face ID to more quickly kick users into their passcode input screen when their faces are obscured. While a good idea in theory, the change wasn’t particularly elegant in practice — users have frequently been left waiting while iOS seemingly decides what to do. With all of this in mind, it’s little surprise that Apple is reportedly testing optical in-display fingerprint sensors that could debut in iPhones as soon as this year.
Source: Engadget
