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Only issues I've had with FaceID is in bed, with my face half buried in my pillow trying to open it. Probably not a bad thing..

this is the biggest annoyance of faceID.

start of the day using the phone, half asleep, and reliably it fails unless you extend your arm out and make a concerted effort to let it properly scan
 
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this is the biggest annoyance of faceID.

start of the day using the phone, half asleep, and reliably it fails unless you extend your arm out and make a concerted effort to let it properly scan

Yep. I will never buy FaceID because of this.

What a hassle.
 
One of my good friends who is a big Apple Fan and buys all the main redesigned products is also suffering with poor Face ID. Same complaints as many of you here that it doesn't recognise him on a first attempt and he has to make a concerted effort to hold the phone at a specified distance and angle to get it to work.

He has tried re-enrolling his face multiple times. It's just very finicky, especially in sunlight. He is now actually thinking about selling it on Craiglist and buying an iPhone 8 Plus instead.

My opinion on this whole situation is it's an Apple first attempt. Much like the iPhone 5S with its first generation Touch ID sensor there are things that need to be worked out, perhaps one or two phones from now it will work more consistently and faster but if you're going to buy it now you'll need to be willing to accept that there are issues.
 
I've only had my X for a couple of days but so far FaceID is perfect. All kinds of lighting with sunglasses on and off it just works. Touch ID on my 6s wasn't nearly as reliable other than reliably failing when my hands were damp.
 
Hmm interesting.

How far away do you hold it

I can roll over, so I'm lying with my ear down on the pillow, raise my phone on my night stand so the phone is on its side and I'm on my side and it works.

Just in general (i.e., non-bed use :D) I can hold it at all sorts of varied distances, and even rotate it along a front-to-rear axis, like 10-15º and it works. A couple of times at my desk I picked it up, upside down, and when I rotated it, I tapped the screen to wake, flipped up to unlock and it all happens in almost a single motion.

I think the people who enrolled the phone really good the first time, then have had longer term use are getting better results. I set mine up on Nov 3rd, and have been using the same enrollment till now, so I think mine has been incrementally improving. I have almost no issues, and as I've reported in other threads, my TouchID is was not any better in terms of accuracy, as I have hard to read fingerprints.
 
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Hmm interesting.

How far away do you hold it

Doesn’t seem to matter. Usually just the normal distance I use my phone, however I can have it lying on the table in front of the side and just slightly lean over so I can reach the phone and tap the screen to wake it and bingo unlocked.
Mine has never failed. Even when I’ve been chewing food it works. It works with or without my contacts, with or without my glasses, with or without my sunglasses, inside, outside, any combo of those. For me it just flat out works.
 
Hmm interesting.

How far away do you hold it

Something to try. I rescanned my face holding the phone as far away as possible and in moderate light. My subjective impression is that FaceID performs a lot better, including being less picky about the angle and distance that I hold the phone. I'd previously scanned it with my face filling the circle. All the way out at arms' length, my face was fairly small in the circle, but accuracy actually seems to have gone up, which seems like the wrong result.

I kept the attention awareness features turned on, but you might get better results (but less security and more unintended unlocks) with AA features turned off, too.
 
Something to try. I rescanned my face holding the phone as far away as possible and in moderate light. My subjective impression is that FaceID performs a lot better, including being less picky about the angle and distance that I hold the phone. I'd previously scanned it with my face filling the circle. All the way out at arms' length, my face was fairly small in the circle, but accuracy actually seems to have gone up, which seems like the wrong result.

I kept the attention awareness features turned on, but you might get better results (but less security and more unintended unlocks) with AA features turned off, too.

Hmmm interesting I'll check into that thx

Apple def should've issued a best practice KB article or something for ideal initial scans beyond face in the circle, rotate head lol
 
Not sure if I posted response here but some may know I got the 8+ while my wife got the X. She was ALL IN on it. After several weeks she loathes FaceID. She loves the form factor and screen but said FID is annoying as hell compared to how easy TID is.
 
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If you setup FaceID by changing the angle of the 2 scans. Do the first one straight on, do the 2nd one at an angle (top of the phone leaning away from you). This will improve the speed and accuracy of FaceID.
 
Not sure if I posted response here but some may know I got the 8+ while my wife got the X. She was ALL IN on it. After several weeks she loathes FaceID. She loves the form factor and screen but said FID is annoying as hell compared to how easy TID is.

Thank for affirming that’s its crap.
 
I must be odd because except for a couple of times and it was clearly my fault my FID has worked flawlessly. I did change the angles like scarface said above between the scans. I've actually been impressed with how quick it is. My biggest fear was using apple pay with it but the most awkward part about that is double clicking the side button to activate it.
 
Same for me as I’ve said in several threads already and even started a thread on it, FaceID has been 100% flawless for me. Works with my contacts, without my contacts, with my glasses, without my glasses, with my sunglasses, without my sunglasses, inside, outside and all combos of these. Even lying flat on the table in front of the sofa at night in dimly lite room while watching tv. Simply lean forward a bit so I can reach the phone, give the screen a tap to turn it on and bingo, unlocked.
 
this is the biggest annoyance of faceID.

start of the day using the phone, half asleep, and reliably it fails unless you extend your arm out and make a concerted effort to let it properly scan

My biggest annoyance is that you can't use it when your phone is in landscape mode facing you (example: Playing music) and when I want to change track, I have to sit it up upright just to accurately scan my face. TouchID was marketed as "any orientation". Everytime I have to encounter this "downgrade" in usability, I get super annoyed.

I guess that $390M investment should pay off in Gen2.

Gen2 Features i'm hoping for:

1. Any orientation unlock.
2. wider unlock angle, preferably even when iPhone is laying flat you don't need to lean over, just "look" at it
3. Faster (though I'm satisfied with the speed on this gen to be fair).
4. minimize/eliminate notch
 
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I must be odd because except for a couple of times and it was clearly my fault my FID has worked flawlessly. I did change the angles like scarface said above between the scans. I've actually been impressed with how quick it is. My biggest fear was using apple pay with it but the most awkward part about that is double clicking the side button to activate it.

I have not used Apple Pay yet, but I see Face ID improving in the area with not necessarily in speed with unlocking the iPhone, but perhaps in adapting to the users face more so overtime and become more accustomed in different positions to unlock the iPhone. That seems to be one of the more discussed complaints with the iPhone X at least on a tech forum.
 
I too am becoming annoyed by FaceID. Only have had it for a week. Off angle, further distance, and landscape detection is a must for gen 2. If I decide to keep this phone, I hope they won’t release gen 2 next year tho lol
 
You seem to be an outlier so I’m calling user error or device fault as the reason.

Mine recognises me like 99% of the time.
 
I too am becoming annoyed by FaceID. Only have had it for a week. Off angle, further distance, and landscape detection is a must for gen 2. If I decide to keep this phone, I hope they won’t release gen 2 next year tho lol

I've posted this suggestion a few times since I read it posted in another thread. My FaceID experience has gotten better both as to distance and angle by rescanning my face with the phone as far away as I could hold it. My face was pretty small in the scanning circle, but it scanned just fine and performance seems less sensitive to distance and angle. Give it a shot - it takes less than a minute. :)
 
as far away as I could hold it
I just tried that and we'll see how that goes. I also removed my glasses. Given that there are a number of complaints with people with prescription glasses, coupled with the fact that when getting my license picture taken I had to take my glasses off (for facial recognition) it seems logical to do that for FaceID

Time will tell how but so far results do appear to be promising.
 
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