how in the hell do you use face ID on an iPhone excess?

You need to delete whatever profile and create a new face ID. It works. I also have iPhone X X.

Hi,
do you have these problems even when first setting the feature up, or only after it has been configured initially and you are now trying to actually unlock the device with it?

The initial setup should be quite okay. I got my iPhone XS only yesterday (the first iPhone with Face ID for me) and had virtually no idea on how to use it, except for what I have read and listened to in some books and potcasts, yet I was still able to set it up fine. The setup screen provides quite detailed instructions and seems to be pretty fool-proof.

When unlocking it, you need to hold the phone with the front camera pointing straight up, and quite farther away from your face than you'd probaly expect. I've also had several occasions where it didn't recognize me at the first attempt, but I suspect this will only get better as I use it longer and get used to it better. These occasions were while trying to unlock the phone when walking at the street at the same time. Having my guide dog's harness in one hand and my cane in the other, I've had to try while holding the phone and looking at it from a weird angle. This is where Face ID seems to suck more for me and be less comfortable and intuitive than Touch ID. I'm totally blind, in fact I can't even fully open my eyes, so I'm not used to behaving as though I was actually trying to look at something as small as the iPhone's front camera.

For me, the feature turned out to work the best when holding the phone at about arm's lenght away from my face. Certainly don't try to look at it from very close up.

I certainly don't get what the fuzz is all about with Face ID. I'd still prefer Touch ID at the moment, but I did need to get the phone for other reasons. I can probably see the appeal that simply looking at your phone to unlock it could have to some sighted users, but not for me. It's doable, it's not terribly uncomfortable, but it's just not as easy as Touch ID for me personally.

Hope this helps at least a bit,
Lukas

Jay, here's what I do.
Hold the phone with the camera facing you, front one by the way. Hold the iPhone about a foot or so away from your face, looking down at the phone, or holding the device in front of you so the screen is pointed twoards you. If you hear the higher pitched sound, the phone is unlocked and you can do the home jesture to bring up the home screen. If you hear the lower sound, that means device is not unlocked, and try again. Listen to Jonathan Mosen's blindside podcast and he does a demonstration of using face ID from when he got his iPhone X a year ago. I've had my iPhone X for almost a year, mid January, and love Face ID. I originally tried it with attention aware turned on, and it worked most of the time but have since switched it off in the Face ID screen in settings. I believe that was where it was, haven't gone in there for quite a while.

Hi. I'm totally blind, and I have an Xs.

At first, I used my bearded old face for both the Face ID and the alternate Face ID. Even then, I had trouble figuring out when the phone was facing me correctly. then I figured out that arm's length is better than close to my face. Arm's length gives the phone a bigger picture; close in requires you to get your face into the bulls eye.

In addition to moving the phone farther from my face, I used my desktop to practice a few times. What I did was put the phone flat on my desk and then lift up the far end while keeping the close end touching the desk. This helped reduce the sideways aiming of the phone, and it taught me the feel in my hand of how the phone should feel when it's facing me, at least the sideways feel. The vertical feel somehow never seemed to worry me. I was more worried about having the phone pointed too far to the right or the left.

Now, here's the good news. When reading up on Face ID, I discovered that SIRI takes a little time to get to know your face. True to what I had read, I discovered that SIRI had a little trouble recognizing me in the beginning, but SIRI soon learned to recognize me right away. After that, I removed my face from the alternate Face ID and put my wife on instead. Of course, I kept my face for the primary face id.

Bottom line? I haven't had any trouble at all since then, even at night when everything is dark in our bedroom.

Anyway, try these steps.

Last, do a single finger swipe up if you get a failed attempt. That gets SIRI to look again for your face. After that, if you still get a failure, SIRI will ask for your pass code, but the more you succeed, the faster SIRI will get, and the more confident you will feel.

Have fun!

Bruce

I saw a comment a Twitter about holding your phone arms length away to make it work, and just figured that was from 3rd party info, rather than from people who actually use FaceID. I have been using it since day 1 of the X, and have found it to be incredibly reliable. I am nearly totally blind, but I have always held my phone about 4-5 inches from my nose, and gotten it to work. Since reading these comments, I tried it further away, and that does seem to work better, but I haven't found it necessary. If it helps you, I don't mean to criticize, I fully support to each their own, but consider how sighted people are using their phones. It was designed so that you look at your phone in the same manner as if you are using it, and nearly instant access.
With that aid, the tips provided here do make a lot of sense. Particularly the comments regarding the learning phase. It will get better over time, and if it forces you to enter your password, it will take steps to learn that even more. Do try to position the phone in front of your face while entering your password, so that it can grab that snapshot of yourself. Consider this like the 2nd steps of training touchID, where you are placing the edges of your finger on the sensor.
I also use the attention mode. I am a little paranoid about faceID, even this far into its use. I do seem to have good enough control of my eyes to make it work. I have played with it testing different ways that someone might hold it up in front of me, and it seems pretty good about not unlocking unless I'm really concentrating. This may be another reason I keep it closer to my face, I don't feel as confident trying to look at something further away, although it still seems to work just fine, so maybe my reasoning is flawed. I have noticed that early in the morning, or times when I'm extremely tired, I have a lot less luck getting the attention piece to work. All that said, if you don't seem to be able to control your eyes as well, don't feel overly concerned. How often do you have your phone out of your control anyhow? Remember that with touchID an ill intentioned person could find a way to get you to touch the sensor without your knowledge as well, so all methods have their drawbacks.
Oh, and one thing I nearly forgot. There are times, like when unlocking apps, that it comes up and tries to detect my face before I am ready. In these instances, I turn the phone away from my face, back toward me, then flip it upright again. This seems to get it to rescan, and the 2nd time generally works.
Good luck...