Can I get directly to the home screen after unlocking my phone with Face ID?

By Pranav Lal, 30 October, 2021

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi all,

When I unlock my iPhone 13 mini running ios 15.1 using face id, I have to make the home gesture once again to get to the home screen. Is it possible to unlock the phone and either land in the app from which one unlocked the phone or land on the home screen?

Pranav

Options

Comments

By TJT 2001 on Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 01:39

People sometimes pick up their phones just to look at notifications or to do other things just from the lock screen. This behaviour would interrupt people’s reading. Sighted people wouldn’t be able to determine if there were notifications on their lock screen unless they looked at it, meaning that they would unlock their phones regardless of whether they intended to access apps. However, Apple Accessibility does take feature suggestions, so if this is something you’d like, you should contact them.

You say that you need to make the home gesture “once again”. You should only need to perform it once.

Hi,

I wrote incorrectly. If I am using face id, I need to make the gesture to reach the home screen only once.

I take your point about sighted people however, if I remember correctly, on my iPhone SE, I could activate the finger print reader and reach the home screen. Having said that, I used that phone over 2 years ago therefore may be mistaken.

By Siobhan on Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 01:39

They got rid of the fingerprint reader because i'm sure people had pressed the home button when they didn't want too. I like face ID and don't mind the gesture. I'll warn you like everyone else. be careful with the side button. Holding it down will call 911 or other emergency services in whatever country you are located. Why? Helpful, yes but annoying because I have done this twice. No wait, three times. Thank goodness they are kind about it. Just use your face, then the home gesture quickly it might help.

By gailisaiah on Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 01:39

Hello Pranav, I made a custom gesture for this. So when the phone unlocks with face ID, I use the custom gesture and get right to the home screen. I also made one for the app switcher.

By Siobhan on Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 01:39

I'm curious about something. You use face ID, then swipe up from the bottom, you go directly to the home screen, unless you have an app open. So why create a gesture that, 99.9% of the time usually brings you to the home screen. I admit that half the stuff like back tap, and the custom gestures I haven't bothered to play with because I don't see the point. So what's the reason? Just asking.

By gailisaiah on Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 01:39

For me, the gesture is a little faster. Face ID makes that noise so you know the phone is unlocked. And instead of swiping up to go to the home screen, I use my custom gesture, and I'm there.

By Siobhan on Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 01:39

I understand about swiping up to get to your home screen, and I understand the gesture you created. What I just probably won't understand ever, is that you are doing essentially the same thing just a different way, so part of me doesn't see how it could be faster. Thanks for answering my question. I guess I just will never understand custom gestures and that's ok.

By Daniel Hawkins on Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 01:39

I done custom gesture like two finger swipe left or right for headings. but the Home swipe custom gesture is just the ticket. I always struggle in placing my finger right where I am to swipe up. I show this to older people and they all struggle with this too. custom gesture may fix that issue. Can i ask, what gesture you use to go home?

By gailisaiah on Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 01:39

When I first got my iPhone 12 mini, I did learn the swiping up to get to the home screen. And I was getting pretty fast with that. But for me a custom gesture works better. The gesture I use to get to the Home Screen is two-finger swipe right and the two-finger swipe left takes me to the app switcher. So what happens is: you hear that sound for face ID that tells you the phone is unlocked, and I do the two-finger swipe right, and I'm at the home screen. But one can certainly assign any different unused gesture for this.