iPhone X Face ID cannot be used to approve family app purchases

Apple's Face ID facial recognition feature on the iPhone X replaced the company's well known Touch ID to provide a more secure way to unlock the phone and to keep data safe. Face ID uses a whole bunch of sensors inside the notch cut out that not only helps accurately detect facial features but also comes in handy for the whimsical Animoji feature, among other things. However, some users have found Face ID a little more inconvenient, especially during family app purchases.



It used to be that under the "Ask to Buy" feature, if a child wanted to purchase an app, the family organiser could approve the purchase request using the simple Touch ID. It still works for iPhone 8 and older models that feature Touch ID. Since the iPhone X only has the one Face ID solution, many naturally believed that could be used to authenticate purchases. However, some users have reported that family app purchase requests cannot be approved using Face ID, and organisers have to type in their Apple ID password every time, which can be rather frustrating considering passwords are required to be quite complicated nowadays and if there are multiple members making requests in a family.

Apple's reason to not add Face ID to authenticate purchases is not known at the moment. The Cupertino giant is yet to acknowledge the reports. However, one reason could be that Face ID, despite all its claim of security, can be fooled by family members, as has been reported in the past and acknowledged by Apple. This means that a child resembling the family organiser can try to hack Face ID to authenticate a purchase, which is perhaps why Apple has not added the feature.