This breakdown awaits almost all iPhone 13 owners. This is why Face ID stops working for many

If my iPhone could complain, I would sue for battery.

I really knock, and sometimes I knock quite well I hit his. Yes, right on the table. Well, sorry, otherwise Face ID doesn’t want to work.

I wrote about this several times. The problem arose earlier, but significantly. In the end, everything came to the point that now the sensor works correctly only a couple of times outside the country. And to do this, you need to do a very strange thing: knock on the device, like in the good old days they knocked on TVs:

After these articles, several readers contacted me, including from service centers that repair Apple gadgets. Together we quickly found the root cause of the problem and its more or less permanent solution.

I think it wouldn’t hurt for you to know about this either – especially for those who still have some kind of iPhone 13 category.

What’s happening with Face ID in iPhone 13

Thanks to reader @ismart77 for the information and photos.

It is important to understand that this case is not a breakdown of the Face ID sensor as a whole, but a flaw in it that leads to unpleasant consequences. The hardware part of Face ID itself still works correctly. iOS simply receives incorrect data from the sensor, which suggests that the system has made it impossible to unlock the device and use any functions, such as tracking facial expressions in Memoji mode.

So, it’s all about glue.

Over time and after repeated temperature changes, the glue applied to the Face ID laser projector lens develops new properties and becomes too viscous. If the source is handled with care, this does not in any way affect the performance of the sensor and may not change indefinitely quickly.

But after that, you only need to fail to damage your iPhone once. Already poorly attached the lens moves slightly due to vibrations along the body. A deviation of literally a fraction of a millimeter is enough – and that’s it, the rays of the Face ID laser projector are now refracted, and the impact is incorrect. iOS does not understand what is happening and what data is being sent to it – and cannot recognize the owner’s face as it should.

That is why you can approach the solution to the problem by knocking on the iPhone case. With luck, the lens will briefly return to the correct position and the sensor will be able to recognize faces again. If you’re unlucky, you can knock again. And so on until victory, or until you get tired of it.

Why is this happening with the iPhone 13, you ask? It’s just that for the first time the second generation Face ID module was installed in them, and Apple came up with time to fix the problem in the next revisions.

How to solve this problem with Face ID on iPhone 13

Isolated Face ID module of the second generation iPhone 13. The problematic lens is on the left.

The cost of the “correction” procedure for Face ID on iPhone 13 in Russia ranges from 3 to 15 thousand rubles, depending on the service center and the qualifications of its employees. In general it will cost 9 thousand rubles.

The technician removes the display, assembles the Face ID lenses and very carefully attaches them into place. That, in principle, is the whole repair.

No matter how simple the surface, the procedure itself is not recommended for a very simple reason. If you damage Face ID when opening it, repairing and replacing the module will cost many times more, especially in modern realities. Most likely, such a device will be sent to a foreign Apple service center, or they will offer a complete replacement for 3/4 of the cost of a new one.

Just in case. What will Apple do in this situation if you still have warranty remaining?

Based on questions that other iPhone 13 owners have had with similar problems, we can conclude that Apple is replacing the iPhone with no questions asked. The type of repair that is practiced in Russia is not carried out in the company in any case.

In Russia, Apple’s warranty service actually does not apply. Therefore, if you yourself are faced with such a repair, your warranty store has already disappeared, then your easy approach will be a paid repair.

The number of complaints about this problem with the iPhone 13 increased sharply last fall and continues to grow for a number of reasons. Therefore, if you are still using the iPhone 13, I will advise you one thing: try very hard not to drop it, so as not to once again check the quality of the Face ID lenses at the factory.