I purchased a refurbished 13 Pro (not from Apple, they don’t sell refurb 13’s yet). It’s in really fantastic condition (screen, exterior, camera, etc), however the Face ID does not work. The phone detects an issue with the depth camera, and doesn’t allow me to enter the setup.
This is not a big deal to me, especially since the phone is in such good condition. I don’t really mind using a pin to unlock the phone, though I would prefer Touch ID. I could send it back, but I’m not sure the next one I would get would be in as good of condition as this one.
Is there more to consider? Is Face ID a particularly useful feature (I’ve only ever had finger-print)? Is the depth camera used for any other critical functions or limit other functionalities of the phone? Thanks for the info!
I use faceID more than I ever thought I’d need to. For password filling, especially. Last April I had to replace the FaceID and thanks to Apple care+ and warranty a $300 charge was free.
If you paid a very good price,and don’t mind not having face ID than I would keep it.
Yes it’s a big deal , send it back
Pain in the ass to input a pin every time you want to use Apple Pay etc etc
Want a quick glance , you can’t you need to pick it up and enter the pin
Send it back
Well answer it for yourself. For me it is. It’s a huge deal breaker. How about you?
Yeah no face id is great, it’s so fast you tap the screen swipe up and you’re immediately in, 0 hassle and you’re protected. Send it back
It’s like getting a pizza with no cheese.
They sell 13s for more than a year…
It would be really annoying
I don’t think you got what you paid for and therefore should return it.
That’s fair, but still concerned whatever other one I get might be in worst condition (exterior, camera), but fully functional. I’m currently checking out the return process though as I’ll likely give it a shot.
If features are broken or not working then it’s not fully functional. If they’re advertising refurbished phones as fully functional but sending you broken ones then they don’t deserve your money. I’m glad you’re returning it!
100%. I once bought a refurbed iPhone with broken FaceID and I absolutely sent it back.
FaceID is honestly one of the best features on an iPhone. There’s nothing else as good out there that I’m aware of.
This iPhone FaceID is the best out there and it’s deeply integrated into many aspects of the phone that you’ll be missing out without even knowing. One thing that instantly comes to my mind is notifications glancing with Face ID. Like I usually have my phone on a stand on my desk while I’m gaming or working and when notification comes and my screen is locked, I can just glance to the phone to unlock and display the notification.
Like my friend would say, “I paid for the item, I want the full experience”
It’s hard to believe there is any good reason for that camera to not be functional if the phone is in good condition. I worry it’s indicative of a bad drop and other problems down the road.
Mine just randomly stopped working a few days ago on my 11 pm. The phone is otherwise in mint condition.
I am retired. Your 13 Pro would work just fine for somebody like me. During set up, I would have declined Face ID as unneeded so I would never have known.
It would be a dealbreaker for me.
Could it be some aftermarket camera on the front that they put in there?
It’s most likely someone did an amateur screen repair and broke the cameras ribbon cable somewhere. There’s a plethora of sensors and it happens to be software locked to the phone at factory. So you can’t replace it and maintain full functionality. Due to this the person not only loses faceID functionality but they also lose the ability to use Apple Pay, or store information in the Secure Enclave chip like credit cards, tickets, insurance etc.
You might feel that it’s not a big deal but considering that you don’t have the option to use fingerprint, you’ll have to use your passcode every time and it’s not a generally good practice to keep putting in your password in public. Further FaceID enables a you to do the things way faster like Apple Pay and also a lot of apps allow you to use FaceID as a way to lock the apps. You’ll miss out on a lot of the features.
Apple does sell refurbished 13 Pros, they just don’t have any in stock at the moment. It sounds like you bought a broken and used iPhone 13 Pro that looks okay, but I definitely would not consider it refurbished.
I would return it – you’ll need to enter a passcode any time you unlock the phone, open certain apps, using Apple Pay, etc. Face ID is essentially seamless in use and you would be missing out on the actual ease of using an iPhone with Face ID.