"Require Face ID" for Messages means missed notifications while driving

[PotentPeas]

So since upgrading to iOS 18, things have been pretty smooth, but I'm struggling with this.

I set "Require Face ID" for the Messages app (and some other apps). This just makes sense to me, I might hand my phone to one of my kids to play a game or something and I like not having to worry about if they get into my messages or work email or whatever.

Now, I use CarPlay while driving, and I noticed that the "Messages" app was missing in CarPlay. I thought this was a bug at first but eventually realized that setting "Require Face ID" for an app fully hides it in CarPlay. I guess this makes sense, because allowing access to Messages in CarPlay would be a way to get "around" the Face ID requirement. So, this is a trade-off that I will accept.

However, I also don't get any sort of notification for inbound messages while the phone is connected to CarPlay. There is no alert pop-up or sound from the car, there is no alert pop-up or sound on the phone, and there is no alert or sound on my Apple Watch (which does receive message notifications while my phone is not CarPlay-ing). This has led to multiple cases where I am just not aware that I missed messages while driving until some time afterwards when I happen to check the app.

And, this is true even if I am the passenger and I am actively using my phone, and I just have the phone connected to CarPlay to help the driver with navigation.

Anyone else run into this? Know of any workaround? If the behavior is still the same on iOS 18.1, I'll file feedback with Apple, but not sure how much that will help ...

 

[Nicj56]

When you choose "require face ID", it hides the apps, because thats how the feature is indended to work. Also the fact it doesn't show the notifications.

 

[BigBlur]

When you choose "require face ID", it hides the apps, because thats how the feature is indended to work. Also the fact it doesn't show the notifications.

Just to be clear, that's only if you hide the app too. You have the option to 'Require Face ID' or 'Hide and Require Face ID'. In the OP's case, they're doing the former (the Messages app cannot be hidden anyway). Notifications will still appear on the phone/watch, but the content isn't visible. If you hide the app too, then notifications won't appear at all.

But yes, both options will hide the app in CarPlay. There are no workarounds other than turning off 'Require Face ID' before using CarPlay.

That is expected behavior and makes sense to me. Apple doesn't want you to be grabbing your phone and using Face ID all the time while you're driving, nor do they have any way of knowing whether you're a passenger or not. They also do not want someone to be able to simply plug the phone into CarPlay in order to get into those apps by circumventing the Face ID requirement.

I'd suggest leaving feedback. Guessing we'd need a way to disable the Face ID requirement for that CarPlay session, or a way to specify which apps to still allow in CarPlay.

 

[PotentPeas]

When I’m not using CarPlay, I get full notifications on my watch (content is not hidden). I get notifications on the phone but the message content is hidden — but there is also an option in iOS notifications settings to show full notifications on the phone even though “Require Face ID” is enabled for the app. That doesn’t affect it’s CarPlay behavior, though.

For now I am having it turn on the driving focus when I connect to CarPlay… so at least whoever texts me can see a notice that I’m not seeing their message. That actually makes me explicitly say “I’m not driving” if I try to unlock the phone… but it still doesn’t activate text notifications.