iPhone 18 Pro users are facing bizarre Face ID bug that can freeze their phones: Here is what we know
Follow UsiPhone 18 Pro users report Face ID failures and phone freezes
The issue reportedly appears when unlocking protected apps
Apple has not yet confirmed whether the problem is hardware or software-related
Apple has recently launched its iPhone 18 Pro series, and while the excitement about the device is still fresh, many users have already started reporting issues with the Face ID of the device. According to the affected users, the issue appears to affect certain Face ID checks, especially when users try to unlock protected apps. Not only that but in certain cases a failed Face ID attempt is also followed by a frozen screen, leaving the device unresponsive. Apple has not yet officially commented on the issue. Here’s everything we know so far about the reported Face ID issue on the iPhone 18 Pro series.
SurveyiPhone 18 Pro Face ID bug
A Reddit user recently shared a post expressing frustration over a Face ID bug affecting newly purchased devices. The issue was first spotted by 9to5Mac. According to the user’s post, the problem occurs when trying to use Face ID for certain authentication tasks, such as unlocking a locked app.
In some cases, Face ID fails to authenticate the user, after which the iPhone freezes and eventually restarts, taking the user back to the lock screen. However, it is worth noting that the issue does not appear to originate from the lock screen itself.
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MacRumors has also pointed out that multiple iPhone 18 Pro users have described similar problems on its forums. Meanwhile, 9to5Mac has reportedly been able to reproduce the issue on at least one European iPhone 18 Pro model.
Along with that, some iPhone 18 Pro owners have also reported separate Face ID problems on Apple’s forums and Reddit. These include a ‘Face ID is Not Available’ message when setting up the feature. Moreover, some users have also pointed out that their phones do not always respect the ‘Require Attention for Face ID’ setting when it is switched on. These reports suggest that the problems may not be limited to one specific Face ID function.
Do note that we were unable to independently verify the scale of the issue at the time of writing.
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Hardware vs Software: What caused it?
While Apple has yet to officially confirm the root cause of the issue, speculation suggests that relocation of the infrared camera underneath the display on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max may be the cause of the problem. Because of the repositioning, Apple was able to further shrink the Dynamic Island. Nonetheless, a lot of people think that this is an iOS 27 bug that Apple might address in the next iOS 27 updates.
