In fact, my iPad Mini is the only device that is Touch ID only and I find I expect it to be unlocked by just looking at it, and always have to remember to tap the power button.
As a UX professional I strive for the simplest UX(less is more). Maybe Apple doesn't strive for the same thing in this regards?
I do hope they add Touch ID back to all their phones someday.. fingers crossed!
I pick up my iPhone and look at it, and its unlocked. I'd be picking it up and looking at it anyway, so that's 0 steps as far as I'm concerned. I don't have to touch it in a particular place with one of a particular set of fingers. Surely as a UX professional you can see how it's at least arguably a much simpler UX?
Also, if you ever need to open your phone while driving (not a good thing but too many do it) grabbing it with thumb and it unlocking is a lot safer then ... grab it, look at it and swipe up.
Or even if it's just sitting on the desk/table/counter/etc. and you want to use it without picking it up. I do this at least 10s of times per day, and for that reason will always own a Touch ID enabled iPhone.
Also, it's great they now have "wearing a mask" support, but the "wearing a motorcycle helmet" is still not on the feature radar. Once again, Touch ID is not affected by this.
That's to get to the home screen, not to unlock it. To get to the home screen with a home button, you still have to perform the step of "going to the home screen", but you do it via pressing the button instead of swiping up. Same # of steps -- though to be honest, it's a bit silly to compare this, since what counts as a step? And why are we just comparing steps and not other forms of complexity?
At any rate, my point is that it should be very easy for a "UX professional" to see why Face ID is a simpler experience in some cases, if not all. The point being that Touch ID vs. Face ID is a tradeoff, not a clear "one is better than the other".
Further steps matter hugely in UX even if you perceive them to be small cause in UX it's not just your experience im designing for it's the use case I mentioned, as well as the use case mentioned below wearing a helmet and other use cases (OMG having to pull my mask down if I had a FACE ID phone awful another step) you find in one's UX research. Steps matter in UX even the smallest of them ...the least the best always!
No? Much of the time I unlock my phone it's to look at notifications or widgets, or use the camera. I'll grant you its a bit pedantic but "unlocking" does have a specific meaning, and is a separate action from going to the home screen. No, it's not really "how one uses an iPhone".
> it's not just your experience im designing for it's the use case I mentioned
This is exactly my point. You are arguing in absolutes, that Face ID is objectively a worse experience. But that's not true, there are many use cases in which Face ID is better (gloves are the obvious example), and many use cases in which it is worse. I mean, as an example, just look at how many people say they prefer Face ID. Clearly it cannot be a universally hated feature.
As a UX professional who strives for path of least resistance always That's the point I'm trying to make. Too many steps especially when driving is bad UX worse it's dangerous UX(yes don't use phone while driving but unfortunately too many do)!!!
Eliminating Touch ID completely especially when all its competitors offer both is stupid and no doubt I'm sure the data shows Apple it's base really wants Touch ID back. Read comments on the SE on all blogs and you will see such dataset saying they want Touch ID not Face ID. Both need to be offered!
Okay, no point discussing this anymore, because I've responded to this point twice now and you've ignored it each time (that the "number of steps" is both dependent on the use case, and a meaningless measure anyway).
Author is saying similar thing ... steps matter in crafting the best UX .. they are not a meaningless measure as I'm sure you go crazy if you went to a website and to submit a document you had to upload then click a continue button that took you to another page that than had the submit button on it. THat's just stupid .. steps are no way a meaningless measure in UX they are the biggest rule when designing ... K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid .. adage).
I hope you are not a designer you'd add unnecessary steps it sounds ;-)
Only Sprint offering an amazing upgrade caused me to move to iPhone 13. I really don't like Face ID for the reasons you mentioned.
I like the phone otherwise but really wish that it also had Touch ID. If Apple doesn't want to mar the front with a physical touch sensor, it can put it on the back; I have an Android phone that has this. If iPhone 14 has both I will quickly upgrade to it.
I almost satisfied with it. It's not the best as the best fingerprint sensor, but it works most of the time. Even with mask, it just take like less than seconds. It's pain that sometimes not work well when sunlight shines my face.