Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Guides

How to unlock your iPhone without a PIN or face recognition

By

There are times when your iPhone’s facial recognition utterly fails and you have no free fingers to tap in a PIN. For example, you’re at an amusement park, the sun is baking your brain, your sunglasses are on so your eyeballs don’t melt, and your iPhone has no clue who you are. Wonderful.

Recommended Videos

In this guide, we show you how to unlock your iPhone without a PIN or face recognition. It’s a neat trick that makes the iPhone enter your PIN for you after speaking a command. This method should never entirely replace face recognition or entering a PIN manually, but it’s helpful when you’re out and about. Just remember to turn it off again when not needed.

This guide is based on iOS 14.4.

Related

Set up voice control

Chances are your iPhone doesn’t even have Voice Control turned on. Follow these steps to get started.

Step 1: Tap to open the Settings app.

Step 2: Scroll down and tap Accessibility. It’s located just under General.

Step 3: Scroll down and tap Voice Control. It’s located in the Physical and Motor section.

Step 4: Toggle on Voice Control or tap Set Up Voice Control if you’ve never used this feature before now.

Create the command

The tricky part will be emulating the way you enter the PIN. When you get to that point, the screen goes black, so there are no numbers. The best advice here is to first clean the screen, eat a plate of chicken or greasy fries, and then unlock your phone with a PIN using your nasty fingers. Press hard so you get nice, thick smudges you can see.

Once you’re asked to emulate your PIN entry gesture, angle the phone until you can see those fingerprints, and then tap in those spots.

Step 1: Tap to open the Settings app.

Step 2: Scroll down and tap Accessibility. It’s located just under General.

Step 3: Scroll down and tap Voice Control. It’s located in the Physical and Motor section.

Step 4: Tap Customize Commands.

Step 5: Tap Custom on the following screen.

Step 6: Tap Create New Command.

Step 7: Tap in the phrase you want to speak and then tap the blue Done button.

Step 8: Tap Action listed further down the screen.

Step 9: Tap Run Custom Gesture.

Step 10: Emulate your PIN entry by tapping on the black screen.

Step 11: Tap Stop in the bottom right corner to complete the recording.

Step 12: Tap Save in the top right corner to save this gesture.

Step 13: You return to the Action screen. Tap New Command in the top left corner to go back.

Step 14: Tap Save.

Disable the command

You can keep the command stored in an iPhone and simply toggle off Voice Control when it’s not needed.

Step 1: Tap to open the Settings app.

Step 2: Scroll down and tap Accessibility. It’s located just under General.

Step 3: Scroll down and tap Voice Control. It’s located in the Physical and Motor section.

Step 4: Toggle off Voice Control.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
An Apple insider just revealed how iOS 18’s AI features will work
An iPhone 15 Pro Max laying face-down outside, showing the Natural Titanium color.

As Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) inches closer, the chatter around the company’s AI work has taken a feverish turn. In a year when smartphone and computing brands have focused solely on AI niceties, Apple has been uncharacteristically silent around the AI hype — eliciting concern about the brand missing the train.

However, a new report has given us a closer look at how Apple's AI dreams may come to fruition with its iOS 18 update later this year.
New details on Apple's AI plans

Read more
Best iPhone deals: Save on iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro Max and more
iPhone 13 Pro in blue.

The Apple iPhone is likely the most popular smartphone of all time, and even older models are still seeing impressive sales. This popularity can make it difficult to find iPhone deals, but there are quite a few hanging around out there right now and some of them could be considered among the best phone deals currently taking place. And while you can always shop refurbished iPhone deals to ensure some savings, we think we’ve found some iPhone deals worth taking a look at right now. They include the newest model iPhone 15, so whether you’re looking for the latest and greatest or an iPhone that simply gets the job done, read onward and start shopping the best iPhone deals going on right now.
iPhone 15 128GB (AT&T) — $730, was $830 (plus up to $700 off w/ trade-in)

The Apple iPhone 15 finally brings with it Dynamic Island which we’ve only previously seen on the Pro range. It’s a real game changer at times and is very convenient. Alongside that, the Apple iPhone 15 has the Ceramic Shield front to keep it more protected while its 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display promises to be up to two times brighter than the iPhone 14 in the sun. There’s also a 48MP main camera with 2x telephoto lens to help you take great shots. The A16 Bionic chip has plenty of processing power to aid with software adjustments.

Read more
iPhone SE 4: news, rumored price, release date, and more
The Apple iPhone SE (2022) and Apple iPhone SE (2020) together.

While the spotlight always seems to be on Apple’s mainline iPhones, the iPhone SE is a great pick for those who are on a budget. If you want an iPhone that doesn't break the bank, the SE is the way to go.

The original iPhone SE came out in 2016, and then Apple revamped it in 2020 and 2022 by giving it some more modern hardware. The iPhone SE tends to get updated every two or so years rather than annually like the traditional iPhone. This means  that we should see a new iPhone SE 4 this year, but it’s not so cut-and-dried with this particular model.

Read more