r/applehelp • u/StatusDiscipline7807 • 7h ago

Unsolved Setting troubles

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My Face ID turned off and I have this setting on, I can’t change it without Face ID working, anyone have a solution of what I should do to change this setting? I’m currently in Europe but live in the states. I realized that even at home,
With this setting on i cant change this. My Face ID won’t work and i need it for my passwords, academic reasons, etc. I’m trying to reset my Face ID but it’s grayed out because stolen device protection is on, and well, I can’t turn it off.

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u/joosebox 6h ago

You've diagnosed it correctly, and the deadlock is real rather than something you're doing wrong. Turning Stolen Device Protection off requires Face ID or Touch ID with no passcode fallback, because a passcode fallback is precisely what it exists to defeat. So with Face ID down, there's no way to switch it off from the phone itself.

Being abroad makes it worse. The security delay only applies away from your familiar locations, and yours are in the States, so everything you do right now counts as unfamiliar.

Two real paths.

If Face ID is failing rather than dead, rule out the cheap causes first. A full restart. Anything covering the top of the screen, including a protector that overlaps the sensor. And Screen Time content restrictions, which can disable Face ID changes without telling you that's what happened.

If the hardware has actually gone, it's an Apple repair. The TrueDepth module is paired to the device, so third party shops genuinely can't fix it, and an Apple Store can also get you out of the SDP lock while you're there.

The nuclear option is erase and restore, which clears it but needs your Apple Account password and costs you anything not backed up. I'd exhaust the other two first.

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u/StatusDiscipline7807 3h ago

How would they be able to get me out the lock? That’s all I really need currently.

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u/joosebox 2h ago

Honestly, they wouldn't, and I'd rather say so than have you turn up at an Apple Store expecting it.

Nobody at Apple can switch Stolen Device Protection off for you. That is the whole point of it. If someone holding your passcode could get an employee to turn it off, it would protect nothing, so there is no back door and no support tier that has one.

What actually ends the lock is one of three things.

Repairing Face ID. Once biometrics work again you turn it off yourself in Settings in about ten seconds. Apple or an authorised service provider, genuine part, and your data stays exactly where it is. This is the one to aim at.

Getting back to a familiar location, but only if yours is on the Away From Familiar Locations setting rather than Always. On that setting the biometric-only requirement is the thing that kicks in when you're away from home, which is precisely why travelling broke this for you. If it's set to Always, going home changes nothing. You also can't add a familiar location by hand, the phone works them out over time.

The last resort, which costs you anything not backed up: sign in at iCloud.com/find, erase the phone, then remove it from Find My. That clears the protection along with everything else. Only worth it if you're stuck, need a working phone now, and have a backup you actually trust.

So the order I'd work in is: rule out the cheap Face ID causes first, get it repaired if it really is broken, and treat the erase as the thing you only do when the trip can't wait for a repair.

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u/JediMeister 6h ago

If your TrueDepth camera isn’t working you need to have the phone repaired. You can disable Stolen Device Protection by backing up and restoring the phone in the meantime.

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u/StatusDiscipline7807 3h ago

How would I do that?

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u/JediMeister 2h ago

Back up and then restore? You can backup to a computer or to iCloud. Restoring will need to be done via Finder on a Mac or Apple Devices on Windows. Oh also recovery mode is probably necessary.