In a new update rolled out recently, Apple is now making it easier to unlock your iPhone while wearing a face mask. The feature is part of the newly seeded out iOS 13.5 released yesterday.
The update now presents users with alternative passcode and password gateways that can be used in case default FaceID doesn’t work because of the face mask.
This is a subtle change, however, since you could still see this option previously but FaceID has to fail twice before the passcode or password screen shows up. But now, you can swipe up the screen and enter a password or PIN straight away while wearing a face mask.
The new feature helps save a couple of seconds that you would initially wait for the iPhone and try and authenticate using FaceID.
FaceID, Apple iPhone’s default unlock feature traces its way back to 2017, starting with the iPhone X. This laid to rest the now-defunct TouchID, which was an electronic fingerprint recognition feature.
In tow with this, iOS 13.5 also includes a new Exposure Notification API to support COVID-19 contact tracing apps. There’s also a new Face Time feature giving you an option to control automatic prominence on Group FaceTime calls so video tiles do not change size when a participant speaks.
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