Face ID in an iPhone is what made the iPhone update popular when it was introduced first. Face ID is a security plan to prevent anyone from unlocking your iPhone. Face ID requires you to put your iPhone in front of your face to unlock. It detects your eyes, and the face if you’ve set a face lock for you via settings. But is it possible to unlock an iPhone with Face ID if you’re wearing a mask? This shall be discussed below, but first know the steps to set a Face ID on your iPhone, and the steps are:

- Go to ‘Settings’ on the ‘Home Screen.’
- Tap on ‘Face ID and Password’ and enter your Passcode if asked.
- Click ‘Set up Face ID.’
- Hold your phone in front of your face and tap on ‘Get Started.’
- It’ll ask you to move your face in a circular movement to detect and set up a Face Id. If you’re unable to do so, go to ‘Accessibility Options.’
- Click ‘Continue’ after the first Face ID scan.
- It’ll ask you to move your head in a circular motion for the second time.
- Once you’re done, tap on the ‘Done’ option.
This will set up a Face ID for your iPhone.
Setting Up a Face ID with a Mask
As you know, Face ID detects your face to unlock your iPhone, you can setup up a new Face ID while wearing a mask as the older one won’t be able to detect the same.
iPhone lets you set an alternative appearance, which means you can set more than one Face Id which will help you unlock your phone anyway, while wearing a mask or not.
For setting an alternative appearance:
- Go to ‘settings’ on the ‘Home Screen.’
- Tap on ‘Face ID and Passcode.’
- Click ‘Set up an Alternate Appearance.’
Now you can set up a Face ID while wearing a mask.
Typing your Passcode Quicker if Face ID fails
Even though you’ve set up a Face ID with a mask as an alternate appearance, this might sometimes fail to work. In such a situation, you can quickly go to typing your passcode instead of waiting to fail the Face ID on your iPhone.
To quickly type your passcode:
- While your iPhone tries to detect your face, click on the ‘Face ID’ written in the middle of the screen.
- Your Passcode screen will appear where you can quickly type in your password instead of waiting for your Face ID to fail to detect.
Turning off Face ID for Apple Pay
If you’re using your phone, you’re patient enough to wait for your Face ID to detect and unlock your phone. But sometimes it doesn’t work for you if you’re in a rush- For example, if you use Apple Pay, you can’t wait for your Face ID to unlock first while there is a long queue behind you. For such a situation, you can turn off your Face ID from Apple Pay, and the steps to do the same are:
- Go to ‘settings’ from ‘Home Screen.’
- Tap on ‘Face ID and Passcode.’
- A list of apps will appear where the Face ID is on. Turn off the slider for Apple Pay.
You can quickly pay with Apple Pay next time just by typing in the Passcode.
Unlock your iPhone Less Often
It is the default setting to put in a passcode whenever you pull out your phone to use. To save time and put your iPhone to unlock less often, you may change the auto-lock setting.
The steps to change the auto-lock setting are:
- Go to ‘Settings’ from the ‘home screen.’
- Tap on ‘Display and Brightness’ and then click ‘Auto-lock.’
- Choose a time to unlock your phone.
For example, if you’re using your phone and choose to set your auto-lock settings to ‘Never,’ you can keep your phone aside with its screen on, and when you come back later to use it, the phone will not be unlocked, and you can straightaway start using it without entering a passcode.