Hi Cameron,

Thank you for contacting us, and I'm sorry for the issue you are experiencing. I'm not sure what could have caused this to happen, but we don't have any known bugs that cause the Face ID feature to become disabled. There are only a few things we know will cause the Face ID feature to become disabled.

First, it is possible an iOS update occurred, which can reset the security information stored in iOS's "Secure Enclave." That is not something that happens often, but it has been reported.

Second, if the Face ID feature is changed in iOS, all third party apps have to have their Face ID feature reset. A change would be turning off and turning the feature back on and deleting or adding a new face to the system. The feature being disabled in for third party apps is on purpose in this case, because if it didn't work like that, someone could get hold of your phone in an unlocked state, add their face to the system, and then they would have access to any app that unlocks via Face ID.

Third, mSecure can be removed from having permission to use Face ID in iOS's Settings. To check that it still has permission, open the Settings app on your iOS device (not the settings in mSecure), scroll down and tap mSecure. In the screen that slides in, check to see if the Face ID toggle is turned on. If it isn't, turn it on and then see if you can use Face ID to unlock mSecure.

Hi Cameron,

I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you saying you went to iOS's Settings and saw that the Face ID permission was already on for mSecure, then you turned it off and back on again? If you did, that's not going to help here. The reason I had you check that permission is to make sure it was turned on to begin with, because there are times when that toggle gets turned off and we don't know why. If the toggle was on when you first went to the Settings app, then mSecure has always had permission to use Face ID, and turning it off and on again won't help.

The bottom line here is that mSecure has to be able to use the password you are entering to decrypt the security information stored in the app. If it can't do that, then there's no way for it to decrypt your data.

Real quick, when you open mSecure, after the lock screen has been displayed for about 10 seconds, do you see the hint you set for your account?

@Noella I haven't head this fix the problem you are running into before, but I am glad to hear you were able to get everything working. The one thing I need to make sure of, however, is that you are not now stuck with entering your password to open your phone. There's nothing in mSecure's implementation that would cause your iPhone to have to use your passcode when opening the device. mSecure simply uses the interface Apple provides in authenticating users via Face ID. On a high level, mSecure asks the system to authenticate the user via Touch ID, iOS pops up the Face ID dialog, the user is authenticated or not, and that response is sent back to mSecure (and all 3rd party apps work like this). So mSecure is not responsible for anything happening in the authentication process.

Also, mSecure can't cause the OS to make the user use a passcode to open the app. Whatever is happening with the passcode has to be getting required by iOS for reasons I'm not aware is ever required.

Real quick, are you saying that you now have to use a passcode to open your phone?

Hi Noella,

Thank you for the followup, and it's good to know that everything's working as it should now. Again, I'm not sure what happened exactly, but I do know mSecure isn't requiring you to set the passcode for your device, which I only bring up to make sure you know it isn't a known bug.

With regards to the Face ID being available in mSecure 4, that's a little bit difficult to explain. While the option in mSecure 4 will always say "Touch ID" in the Settings, that version of the app does still support unlock via Face ID. iOS only supports Touch ID OR Face ID on a particular device, and both are similar features that use the same interfaces for third party apps. When you turn on "Touch ID" in v4's Settings on a device that supports Face ID, iOS simply uses Face ID instead. Where the confusion comes in is that the last version of mSecure 4 was released before the Face ID feature existed, so it can't delineate which type of authentication the device has. So mSecure 4 is able to unlock via Face ID, but it still shows "Touch ID" in the Settings.

Hi Noella,

This is a very strange thing that's happening, as both apps should function in exactly the same manner. I don't know why mSecure 6 is not showing the Face ID toggle. Real quick, I want you to check a different location in iOS's Settings to see if the mSecure 6 has permission to use Face ID. This time, open the Settings app, but do not go to the Face ID section. Simply open Settings to the home screen where you'll see your profile photo at the top, then scroll down on that first page all the way to the bottom section where all your installed apps are listed. Find mSecure 6 (the app with the dark icon) and tap it, and you'll see a screen like I'm attaching.

In the mSecure screen like I attached, does it show the Face ID toggle is turned on? Please attach a screenshot so I can make sure we're in the same Settings location on our devices.