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Comment by klmadfejno | Hacker News Reader

I've gone from the old SE to the new SE. I like it. Feels fine for one hand use. I think the debate about FaceID vs. TouchID is people exaggerating their beliefs. I've got FaceID on a work phone, and have Touch ID now. On my old one, the button broke so I just used the assistive touch virtual button and input my 8+ digit code every time to unlock it. Didn't phase me at all after an hour.

As someone who hasn't cared at all about any of the iphone tech advances of the recent past, a relatively cheap phone with 64GB of space and a hand held size is great.

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It feels ironic that at a time where I want to use contactless payment as much as possible my Face ID has stopped working because I’m wearing a mask. I’d take Touch ID back in a heartbeat!

> my Face ID has stopped working because I’m wearing a mask

I have started thinking pretty strongly about buying an SE (2020) and trading back my 11 Pro Max based solely on Touch ID. I've missed having Touch ID for a while but I like the much better screen and cameras on my 11...but considering masks in public are very likely to be a thing in North America for a while, it's worth my considering.

My hope is that Apple figures out how to do multiple faces on Face ID, like fingerprints on Touch ID, so I can tell it "this is me" and "this is me with a mask."

Settings -> Face ID —> Set Up an Alternative Appearance

Will this work reliably for teaching it to recognize you with a mask on? Seems like using different masks or having some wrinkle in your mask would throw it off.

Additionally, would it lower the amount of information the sensor can gather to the point where someone else's face with a mask would trick it into unlocking?

I've tried that and maybe I need to fiddle with it some more but I've run into a roadblock: I have three different types of cloth masks and Face ID seems to trip over the flat-front kind from Tom Bihn and the pleated kind popular with Etsy sellers.

This didn’t work for me. It said something was blocking my face. This was with a black mask, not a bandana.

TouchID doesn’t work with my gloves

If you're in a situation where you need to be wearing gloves, do you really want to touch your phone?

(Before anyone says winter, you can get gloves that work on touch screens and therefore would allow you to enter your passcode).

1. Yes, e.g., I'm often wearing work gloves to protect me from cuts, rather than dirt and oil. I've never found any work gloves that work on touch screens.

2. Yes, because glancing at my unlocked phone will show me if anyone tried to contact me via any of the various messaging apps (ugh). Then I know if I should take my gloves off to read and respond.

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