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by breser 1665 days ago
At least on iPhones though they have a way to activate a mode that prevents the use of TouchID and FaceID. If I press the power button on my phone 5 times in a row that turns that off.

Yes I still run the risk of my device being unlocked against my will if I'm caught by surprise. But I'm able to disable this functionality in places where I think the risk of that may be higher, e.g. while traveling.

I'll still take the trade off of longer password (not just a few numbers) on my phone while using a biometric test for normal access.

Of course not everyone may have the same threats to consider and others may make different choices. Doesn't make either of our choices wrong.

1 comments

On modern FaceID phones you need to hold the power and down volume key to bring up the Reset/PowerOff and cancel. Just clicking multiple times will bring up wallet, siri, or do nothing.
Just clicking multiple times will bring up wallet, siri, or do nothing.

On my iPhone 13, just now, I rapidly clicked the power button 5x.

The phone immediately made a loud sound and put up a screen that said "Emergency SOS". There was an option to "cancel" it, but I assume that the phone would have contacted 911 in short order unless I quickly cancelled.

So the correct description is probably "it depends".

There is an option in the settings to make it not actually call unless you press a further UI button on the iPhone.

In Settings go to Emergency SOS. Uncheck Auto Call

My Android phone did exactly the same. Very loudly and unexpectedly.
Just hit the power button 5 times on my iPhone 13 Pro, and it locked down FaceID as I'd expect (while bringing up the Reset/Power Off screen). You've described an alternative method, not the only.
Which OS are you updated to (no please don't post it)? not 15.1.x? Have you disabled wallet, Siri, and SOS? It doesn't work on any of the 5x 12s and 13s (pro and not) I just tried. It did work on an 11, which was not updated to 15.

You also risk the accidental activation of an SOS call.

I think you need to turn on the power button clicking 5 times feature by turning on the "Call with Side Button" option in Settings under Emergency SOS. I'd also suggest turning off Auto Call if you want to use it like this.

Yes this is kinda buried and not clear at all that this function also disables FaceID but it does.