Face ID that works while you're wearing a mask
Each year, the slow march of software brings small liberties — and Apple's first public beta of iOS 15.4, released in late January 2022, carries two that feel long overdue: the ability to unlock an iPhone while wearing a mask, and the freedom to move seamlessly between Apple devices with a single keyboard and trackpad. Offered to enrolled testers willing to trade stability for early access, this beta represents the quiet, iterative way technology reshapes daily life — not in grand leaps, but in the gradual removal of small frustrations.
- Two years of mask-related unlocking friction may finally be over — Face ID in iOS 15.4 learns to recognize you even when your face is half-covered.
- Universal Control, long promised and eagerly awaited, now lets a single keyboard and trackpad flow across Mac, iPad, and iPhone as if they were one device.
- The update spans nearly every Apple platform at once — iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS — signaling a broad, coordinated push toward ecosystem cohesion.
- Beta software comes with real risk: crashes, battery drain, and potential data loss mean Apple is urging testers to back up before installing anything.
- Public testers enrolled in Apple's program can access the beta now through Settings, with a stable spring 2022 release hinging on the feedback they provide.
On a Friday in late January 2022, Apple extended its iOS 15.4 beta beyond developers and into the hands of the general public — anyone enrolled in Apple's beta program could pull the update directly from their Settings app. The release touched nearly every platform Apple makes: iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS Monterey all received test builds simultaneously.
The two features drawing the most attention are ones users have been anticipating for months. The first is mask-aware Face ID — a quiet but meaningful shift that ends the two-year ritual of removing a mask or typing a passcode just to unlock a phone in public. The second is Universal Control, which dissolves the boundaries between Apple devices by letting a single keyboard and trackpad operate across a Mac, iPad, and iPhone as one continuous workspace.
The beta also brings smaller but welcome additions: new emoji, a wallet widget, Bluetooth improvements for AirPods, and enhancements to iCloud Keychain's password management.
But Apple is clear about what public beta participation actually means. This software is unfinished — prone to crashes, accelerated battery drain, and in the worst cases, data loss. The company urges testers to back up their devices before installing, and to think carefully before putting beta software on any device they depend on daily. The tradeoff is early access and the ability to influence what ships to everyone else.
A full public release is expected in spring 2022, shaped in part by whatever bugs and friction points testers surface between now and then.
Apple opened its doors to public beta testers on Friday with the first test versions of iOS 15.4, iPadOS 15.4, watchOS 8.5, tvOS 15.4, and macOS Monterey 12.3. The company had seeded these builds to developers earlier in the week, but now anyone enrolled in Apple's public beta program can download and install them through the Settings app—a path that runs through General, then Software Update.
The centerpiece of this release is Face ID that works while you're wearing a mask. For two years, iPhone users have had to either remove their masks or fall back on the passcode when unlocking their phones in public. That friction disappears with 15.4. The update also brings Universal Control, a feature that lets you use a single keyboard and trackpad across multiple Apple devices—your Mac, iPad, and iPhone can now work as one fluid ecosystem. These aren't minor conveniences. They're the kind of features people have been waiting for since Apple first announced them months ago.
Beyond those marquee additions, the beta includes a fresh batch of emoji, a new widget for the Apple Wallet app, and under-the-hood improvements to AirPods Bluetooth connectivity. iCloud Keychain, Apple's password manager, gets enhancements as well. The company is casting a wide net with this release, touching nearly every device category it makes.
Anyone thinking about jumping in should know what they're signing up for. Apple's public beta software is unfinished. It may crash. It may drain your battery faster than the stable version. It may lose your data. The company explicitly warns testers to back up their devices using Time Machine before installing anything. This is not software for your primary phone if you can't afford downtime. It's meant for people who can tolerate rough edges in exchange for early access and the chance to shape what Apple ships in the spring.
The full release of iOS 15.4 and its companion updates is expected sometime in spring 2022, pending how the beta testing goes. Apple uses feedback from public testers to identify bugs and usability problems before the software reaches everyone else. If you want to enroll, Apple's website has the details. If you're already in the program, the update is waiting in your settings right now.
Citações Notáveis
Since the public beta software has not yet been commercially released by Apple, it may contain errors or inaccuracies and may not function as well as commercially released software.— Apple's warning to beta testers
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does Face ID with masks matter so much? Isn't that a pretty niche problem by now?
It's not niche at all—it's been two years of friction. Every time you're wearing a mask in public, you hit a wall. You either remove it or punch in your passcode like it's 2015. For people who use their phones constantly, that adds up.
Fair point. But what about Universal Control? That sounds like a feature for power users, not regular people.
Maybe, but it changes how you think about your devices. Right now, your Mac and iPad feel like separate worlds. You need different keyboards, different workflows. Universal Control collapses that distance. It's the kind of thing that sounds small until you use it.
The warning about backing up before installing—how serious is that?
Dead serious. This is pre-release software. It can corrupt your data, crash mid-task, drain your battery in hours. If your phone is your lifeline, you don't install this. You wait for spring.
So who actually uses these public betas?
People who can afford to experiment. Developers, tech enthusiasts, people with a second device they can risk breaking. Apple needs them to find problems before millions of people upgrade.
And if they find a major bug, what happens?
Apple fixes it and pushes out a new beta build. That's the whole cycle—test, report, fix, repeat. By the time the spring release comes, most of the rough edges are gone.