Apple has already taken steps to help improve the experience of using an iPhone with Face ID when wearing a mask. However, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority has sent a letter directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook, urging the company to take further steps to teach customers about using Face ID when wearing a mask.
iOS 13.5 was released in May with a small but incredibly useful change to Face ID. If the iPhone detects that you have a face mask, it will automatically present the password screen. Previously, you were forced to wait for Face ID to fail before the password screen would be presented.
As reported by the United Press, Chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Patrick Foye has sent a letter to Tim Cook, calling on the company to deploy “new technologies and solutions” to protect customers amid the COVID-19 pandemic:
“We understand that Apple is working to address the issue and know that Apple has a range of technologies as a global leader among tech companies,” Foye wrote in the letter sent Sunday. “We urge Apple to accelerate the deployment of new technologies and solutions that will further protect customers during the COVID-19 era.”
It’s not explicitly clear what the MTA wants Apple to do in this scenario, but Foye notes in the letter that the MTA would be willing to work with Apple “on messaging to make users know” about the Face ID changes introduced in iOS 13.5.
The MTA requires all riders to wear masks and ride social distances while riding on subways and buses, but apparently one of the main reasons people are removing their masks is to quickly unlock their iPhone with Face ID. The MTA apparently hopes that as more users became aware of how easy it is to bypass Face ID with iOS 13.5, they were less likely to remove their mask to unlock it.
FTC: We use revenue earned by auto-affiliate links. More.
Watch 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:
