Now that government health guidelines recommend or mandate the wearing of masks in public, you may be wondering how to unlock your iPhone while wearing a face mask. iPhone Face ID may be difficult to work with a mask, but but it is not impossible.

The reason it is difficult for the iPhone to recognize a face with a mask is because Face ID creates a depth map of over 30,000 invisible dots on the face; Face ID accurately recognizes areas covered by the mask to match features like the nose and mouth.

For this reason, many people turn off facial recognition software and rely on passcodes instead. However, there are ways to trick Face ID into working even when wearing a mask. Just be aware that you are sacrificing security by doing this. Apple warns against this type of hacking. In a recent statement, the company said, "Face ID is designed to work with eyes, nose, and mouth visible."

Options for quickly and easily unlocking the iPhone while wearing a face mask include.

Others have successfully added another look to Face ID. This idea began to gain traction with a tutorial by Tencent. Their method is to cover the lower half of the face during the Face ID registration process.

I tried this method using an iPhone 11 Pro at ...... It worked! I was able to unlock my iPhone with the face mask on. Let me show you how to do it.

If adding another appearance doesn't work, you can also try re-enrolling completely in Face ID using this method.

You can also completely bypass Face ID just to unlock your iPhone. Here's how:

Another way is to minimize the time lag when the iPhone is trying (and failing) to recognize your face. You can do that by moving more quickly to the screen where you enter your passcode. in the beta version of iOS 13.5, Apple has made that process faster if Face ID detects that you are wearing a mask. You can also make it faster yourself.

If you are concerned about making your iPhone less secure using one of these options, there are other things you can do to make your device easier to use while wearing a face mask.

This is not an iPhone unlock hack. It is a way to read important texts and notifications without unlocking.

Again, think carefully about the security of your iPhone before using these methods.