- FaceID is way better when your fingers are not perfect: after washing hands, in the kitchen, when wearing gloves etc.
- FaceID is more secure (lower chance of a false positive)
- FaceID already starts working when you pick up the phone (you do not need to trigger it), so by the time I swipe up to unlock, it has already long since identified my face
- FaceID enabled you to hide the content of notifications and only show them when you look at the phone
With Touch ID and a home button I do not have to swipe up to unlock - in the accessibility settings there is a "rest finger to open" option which brings back the pre-iOS10 (or around that time) behavior where the lockscreen is dismissed as soon as your finger is recognized.
This means that before I even take out the phone out of my pocket it is already unlocked and is on the home screen ready to be used. You can even start opening apps purely through muscle memory while you're taking the phone out.
Note that I'm in a COVID-free part of Australia so I'm not affected by mask wearing.
https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZTY4NTI1NzQtYTBhYy00Z...
If you're wearing gloves, Touch ID doesnt work. If you're wearing a mask, Face ID doesnt work. If your finger is a bit wet and/or wrinkly, Touch ID doesnt work. If your face is at a very off angle Face ID won't work.
Face ID worked pretty well for me (before mask time) and for me it had less tradeoffs. I prefer it.
I was excited when I discovered this, but I now consider this “feature” to be a security issue. I used to “prime” my Touch ID-equipped iPhones until I accidental authorized an in-app purchase because my thumb was pre-placed on the sensor.
Never again.
I had modified the Accessibility settings so that resting a finger on the sensor would unlock the device, and when reverting that setting I still ran into the same issue.
My favourite was the room being illuminated (by IR light?) when using FaceID in bed.
By illuminating the room I meant illuminating from the light of the screen, not IR. When using it in bed I can keep a Touch ID device under a blanket as to not illuminate the rest of the room, but Face ID performs poorly in that case and I have to take the phone out completely so the light does leak.
Touch ID (combined with a home button) is a lot faster. You can reach into your pocket or handbag, put the finger on the button and press it while you're taking it out. By the time your phone is out it's unlocked and on the home screen. I don't recall seeing people failing to unlock their phones while paying with Apple Pay before but now it's a reasonably common occurrence if they didn't "prime" it ahead of time.
You can also quickly unlock your phone if it's not directly aligned with your face without having to pick it up (let's say it's on a table or desk) or if you're letting another person handle it.
Face ID is also annoying in bed, when either your face is obstructed by pillows/blankets or if you're holding your phone too close to your face and need to hold it further away for a second, illuminating the whole room in the process.
Touch ID also makes the authentication action explicit. If you're handling someone else's phone, you can look at the lockscreen without attempting to authenticate by simply keeping away from the home button and using the power button to wake it up. With Face ID the simple fact of looking at the phone is an authentication attempt and you'd be consuming the limited amount of attempts the owner has before they have to fall back to a passcode.