The Fast Way to (Temporarily) Disable Biometric Authentication on iPhone

If you have an iPhone, you’re likely used to using Face ID or Touch ID to quickly log into your device. There’s a lot of convenience that comes from that type of authentication, especially since you don’t need to punch in your passcode every time you want to check your phone. And while both Face ID and Touch ID are secure, they aren’t impervious.

Hypothetically, someone could force or trick you to scan your face or fingerprint in order to unlock your iPhone, which would give that person access to all of your apps, messages, and files. Of course, turning off these authentication methods entirely would be overkill, since, most of the time, there’s little risk. If you ever find yourself in a situation in which you want to temporarily disable Face ID and Touch ID, there’s a quick way to do so.

Rather than turn off Face ID or Touch ID completely, do this: Press and hold the volume up button and the power button for roughly two seconds, or until you see the screen with options to turn off your iPhone, pull up your medical ID, or call emergency services. Instead of doing any of those things, just hit Cancel. Now, you’ll see the passcode keypad appear, with the following message: “Enter Passcode: Your passcode is required to enable Face ID/Touch ID.”

Face ID and Touch ID will not work until you correctly enter your passcode. Once you do, it’ll begin working as you’d expect. You can achieve the same result by turning your iPhone off completely, but this is definitely the fastest method possible.