iOS 12 will reportedly add support for horizontal Face ID unlock

Face ID currently does not work in landscape orientation, but iOS 12 could change that.

Yesterday, Japanese blog Mac Otakara learned (Google Translate) that iOS 12, due this fall, will bring support for horizontal Face ID unlock. In other words, iPhone X owners should be able to unlock their phone in both portrait or landscape orientation when iOS 12 releases sometime this fall.

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman explains that horizontal Face ID is primarily designed for the upcoming iPad Pro models that should be outfitted with Apple’s TrueDepth camera for Face ID and other features. Neither Mac Otakara nor Gurman cleared up whether horizontal Face ID will also work on iPhones, which seems like a plausible possibility.

Face ID arrived with some missing features, but Apple has been working on expanding its functionality. For instance, users were originally prohibited from approving family purchases with Face ID, but iOS 11.3 fixed that. iOS 12 will run on both the upcoming new iPhones devices and existing devices.

In other news, Mac Otakara learned from a “reliable supplier information source” that an alleged 6.5-inch iPhone X Plus will be roughly the same size as iPhone 8 Plus, but 0.2mm thicker which would put 7.7mm in thickness.

Apple will preview iOS 12 along with the major tvOS, macOS and watchOS updates at its annual developers conference next month and we expect a mention of landscape Face ID during the keynote.

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