In a report last week, we covered a story from iFixit claiming that any third-party repair of your iPhone 13 display would nerf Face ID.
That’s right, if you tried to get your screen replaced from a third-party repair shop — EVEN IF THEY USE ORIGINAL PARTS — the Face ID feature on your iPhone 13 would be disabled.
“According to their findings, despite the decoupling of the Face ID module and the display, any display replacement will disable Face ID. What that means is that any screen replacement not authorized by Apple will result in a busted Face ID component.”
From our original article
Now, a new report from The Verge says that Apple will soon release a software update that will effectively allow repair shops to repair/replace a screen without killing Face ID entirely.
From The Verge:
“Soon after the iPhone 13 launched, repair experts found that swapping out iPhone 13 screens would break Face ID unless you also moved over a tiny control chip from the original screen. It’s a complex process that makes one of the most common types of repairs prohibitively difficult for independent repair shops. (Apple-authorized repair shops, on the other hand, have access to a software tool that can make a phone accept a new screen.) For indie repair shops, things may get easier soon, however, as Apple tells The Verge it will release a software update that doesn’t require you to transfer the microcontroller to keep Face ID working after a screen swap.”
– The Verge
To be clear, Apple has not given a time frame as to when this software update will roll out, but it is nice to see them walk back on their ridiculous repair policies.
