Andrew Orr
An unknown number of iPhone users have reported having problems with Face ID not working immediately after updating to iOS 16.
It's unclear how many people are affected by the Face ID bug, nor whether only particular models of iPhone are affected. However, it is not a widespread issue.
In a Reddit thread first started two months ago, a growing number of users have reported that updating to iOS 16 has resulted in Face ID stopping working afterward. The thread's original poster shared an error message that said, "Face ID is not available, try setting up Face ID later."
It was posted in the iPhone X subreddit, although one person had trouble with Face ID on their iPhone 13 Pro Max. Someone else said they brought their iPhone into an Apple Store, where the technicians claimed it was a hardware error.
An Apple customer wrote in the company's community forums on October 27, saying that they updated to iOS 16.1 and found that Face ID no longer worked. Rebooting and resetting Face ID didn't seem to help.
In early October, MacRumors reported that the iOS 15.7.1 Release Candidate — not the official release — broke Face ID for some people.
Apple has a support page on steps to take if Face ID isn't working on an iPhone or iPad Pro. They include checking for updates or Face ID settings and ensuring that nothing is covering the front-facing camera.
However, this is a general support page, rather than one directly addressing this particular Face ID error. Apple has not issued any support documents about the issue, nor commented publicly on it.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
6 Comments
I work at a cell phone repair shop, and last week had someone come in with an iPhone 11 that the FaceID stopped working immediately after the update.
On a purely anecdotal basis after a survey of friends, I’m guessing that this problem is limited to a small minority of users. Nobody in my sample group (50) has had this issue.
I’m one of the affected minority I guess. Stopped working after update to 16.1. Have an iPhone 13 max.
Friend got her iPhone 14 Pro yesterday, and right out of the box it’s installed with 16.1 and she couldn’t set it up, either.
This happened to my wife on her iPhone 11 and iPad Pro. It was easy to fix by using reset Face ID in settings and then it worked fine. I have the same phone but did not have this problem. Both devices broke after upgrade from iOS 15.7 to 16.1.
A new 14? Take it in for repair/replacement. That’s an easy, if annoying, fix.