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What to Do If Face ID Doesn't Scan Your Face on the iPhone X


Here’s a fix for a very specific issue with the iPhone X. If Face ID doesn’t work the first time, how can you get it to rescan without physically picking up the phone or navigating away from the lock screen?

It might not sound like a big deal, but The Verge points out that if you leave your phone on your desk or in a stand while you work it can actually be an annoying problem. Here’s how to deal with the issue.

How to Get Face ID to Rescan (and Why This Matters)

This problem all comes down to how notifications work on the iPhone X. With the new smartphone, Apple changed its default lock screen setting to hide all the important info. You’ll see who and where the message is coming from, but you can’t actually read its contents until you’ve unlocked the device. That’s great for protecting your privacy, but annoying in this particular situation.

If your iPhone X is sitting on the desk in front of you and a notification comes, you’ll naturally look at the phone. But if Face ID doesn’t work on the first try there’s no obvious way to try it again. You can’t just turn your head away and look back at the device. You have to either pick up the device or navigate to another screen by swiping up before returning to the lock screen—both of which are pretty time consuming if you’re doing this dozens of times per day.

Thankfully, the solution is incredibly simple. With a little help from Twitter, The Verge found that you can re-trigger Face ID by starting to swipe up from the lock screen, but not going all the way. Once you’ve dragged the bar up by about a quarter of an inch, pull it back down to the starting position. This will prompt Face ID to try again, and this time you’ll be looking right at the device so (hopefully) it will work