I'd really like to use a longer passphrase to protect my phone, especially now that iOS 12 has the USB locking feature to protect against threads like greykey - but it's a huge pain in the ass to enter a sufficiently long or complex password or passphrase on a touchscreen keyboard so I haven't bothered due to the aforementioned TouchID issues. I'm actually kind of looking forward to upgrading this year and giving FaceID a go, it's annoying that I have to trade the option of using TouchID for it but all the anecdotal evidence I've found presents a more consistent experience.

FaceID works great when I'm at my work desk and have the phone on a charging stand. I can just glance at the phone and it unlocks to show my notifications.

Otherwise, I just want to be able to pick up the phone (from the bedside, from my pocket, etc) and have it already unlocked by the time I look at the screen.

I do lift my head but maybe it’s something else I’m doing. I’ll try different angles or maybe open my eyes wider. I just feel like this kind of experimentation kind of flies in the face of the Apple experience that I thought I was paying for.