New story in Technology from Time: Apple Is Making it Way Easier to Unlock Your iPhone While Wearing a Mask

If you’ve been having trouble unlocking your pesky iPhone while wearing a mask, you’re not alone.

As many of us are wearing facial coverings while out of the house to curb the spread of COVID-19, it’s proving difficult to use the Face ID unlocking feature in newer iPhones, like the iPhone 11. Luckily, an upcoming software update from Apple is making it easier to deal with the frustration, though not in the way you might think.

Among various bug fixes and improvements, Apple’s upcoming iOS 13.5 update includes a minor but important change to the iPhone lock screen. When you pick up a Face ID-capable iPhone, it usually prompts you to show your mug to the front-facing camera to get inside your device. Failing that, the iPhone asks you to enter your passcode — but it can take a few seconds before the passcode option appears.

With the upcoming update, iPhone users will be able to swipe up from the bottom of the lock screen to instantly jump to to the passcode option, manually and quickly bypassing Face ID. The update is currently in beta before being rolled out more widely.

Of course, using this option may mean your rarely-used passcode or uncomfortably long password will see a lot more use, which can eat up even more time. To make your passcode easier to enter (helpful when hauling groceries home) you can visit the Settings app, select Face ID & Passcode, and enter a new, shorter password. Just remember to keep it hard to guess — shorter passcodes can be easier to remember, but can also be less safe. You may also see the option to “Set Up an Alternate Appearance.” Before you get your hopes up, thinking you can just configure your iPhone to recognize you with your mask on, it unfortunately won’t work with a mask obstructing half your face.

While Apple’s Beta Program is open to everyone who wants to join, doing so isn’t recommended if your device is “mission-critical,” so to speak. Beta versions of software often contain bugs that may leave users vulnerable to glitches that could result in lost data, or exploits that have yet to be patched in that particular version. So it’s better to wait for this feature to come to the general public, which shouldn’t take long.

Comments

Slashdot: AT&T Says Leaked Data of 70 Million People Is Not From Its Systems

AT&T Says Leaked Data of 70 Million People Is Not From Its Systems Published on March 20, 2024 at 02:15AM An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: AT&T says a massive trove of data impacting 71 million people did not originate from its systems after a hacker leaked it on a cybercrime forum and claimed it was stolen in a 2021 breach of the company. While BleepingComputer has not been able to confirm the legitimacy of all the data in the database, we have confirmed some of the entries are accurate, including those whose data is not publicly accessible for scraping. The data is from an alleged 2021 AT&T data breach that a threat actor known as ShinyHunters attempted to sell on the RaidForums data theft forum for a starting price of $200,000 and incremental offers of $30,000. The hacker stated they would sell it immediately for $1 million. AT&T told BleepingComputer then that the data did not originate from them and that its systems were not breached. &q

Slashdot: AT&T, T-Mobile Prep First RedCap 5G IoT Devices

AT&T, T-Mobile Prep First RedCap 5G IoT Devices Published on October 15, 2024 at 03:20AM The first 5G Internet of Things (IoT) devices are launching soon. According to Fierce Wireless, T-Mobile plans to launch its first RedCap devices by the end of the year, while AT&T's devices are expected sometime in 2025. From the report: All of this should pave the way for higher performance 5G gadgets to make an impact in the world of IoT. RedCap, which stands for reduced capabilities, was introduced as part of the 3GPP's Release 17 5G standard, which was completed -- or frozen in 3GPP terms -- in mid-2022. The specification, which is also called NR-Light, is the first 5G-specific spec for IoT. RedCap promises to offer data transfer speeds of between 30 Mbps to 80 Mbps. The RedCap spec greatly reduces the bandwidth needed for 5G, allowing the signal to run in a 20 MHz channel rather than the 100 MHz channel required for full scale 5G communications. Read more of this story at

Slashdot: AT&T Can't Hang Up On Landline Phone Customers, California Agency Rules

AT&T Can't Hang Up On Landline Phone Customers, California Agency Rules Published on June 22, 2024 at 01:50AM An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) yesterday rejected AT&T's request to end its landline phone obligations. The state agency also urged AT&T to upgrade copper facilities to fiber instead of trying to shut down the outdated portions of its network. AT&T asked the state to eliminate its Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligation, which requires it to provide landline telephone service to any potential customer in its service territory. A CPUC administrative law judge recommended rejection of the application last month, and the commission voted to dismiss AT&T's application with prejudice on Thursday. "Our vote to dismiss AT&T's application made clear that we will protect customer access to basic telephone service... Our rules were designed to provide that assurance,

Shameless Plug

Search This Blog