Nobody expects a face scan to send their iPhone into a full meltdown, but that is what some users are saying about the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. A failed Face ID attempt is enough to freeze the screen, kill touch response, and force the phone into a restart within seconds, they aver. It is hitting only some users, but it was enough for Apple to react.
The problem begins the moment iPhone 18 Pro Face ID fails to recognise you. 9to5Mac managed to recreate it by covering the camera with a hand while trying to unlock the Passwords app using Face ID.
What followed was a phone that stopped responding to touch entirely before forcing itself into a hard reboot, with a panic log showing up under iPhone Analytics in Settings afterwards.
Whether the newly redesigned Face ID setup has anything to do with it remains unconfirmed. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max now hide the infrared camera behind the display, tucked near the status bar clock, a shift that also shrunk the visible Dynamic Island by 25 per cent. The report stops short of pinning the iPhone 18 Pro Face ID bug on this new hardware layout, though.
Some iPhone 18 Pro users, understandably rattled, had already swapped their phones at Apple stores, assuming a hardware fault was to blame.
But Apple has now confirmed to 9to5Mac that a software update addressing the issue is in the works and should land early next week, meaning a replacement isn't necessary for this particular glitch.