iOS 18.3.1 bug re: Face ID and Passcode in "Settings"?

My wife’s Face ID is currently refusing to recognise her, so I went to check her settings. Imagine my surprise when I could not find them anywhere. A search for Face ID only returned the four or so entries where it appears within the “Accessibility” settings.

Of course, I checked my own phone (we both have the iPhone 15 Pro Max on iOS 18.3.1) and it ALSO wasn’t there! However, I did get the settings panel retuned in a search on my phone. After this, it also turned up at the right position in the list within Settings.app.

It didn’t stay there though, because when I went back to take a screenshot, it was gone again.

On iPad, the Face ID and Passcode panel did turn up without any additional pre-searching for it, and yes - I restarted her phone properly too.

Weird eh? Attaching screenshots, note that hers is set to Swedish, but the “sort order” is the same. Thanks!



A quick check of the Apple Support Community turned up a lot of posts about this very thing dating back to 2023 so it may not be a 18.3.1 bug. Most answers pointed to Screen Restrictions settings. Make sure Face ID is on. You may want to check that out. Just a thought.

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Search in Settings is, generally speaking, completely broken and unreliable in iOS/iPadOS, not just for this search term.

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