iPhone Bug Cause Ghost Keyboard After Face ID Unlock

A bug in iOS 12 and newer updates (iOS 13 included) seems to be creating a ghost keyboard on iPhones just after a Face ID unlock.

While we couldn’t reproduce the issue on several iPhones equipped with the facial recognition system here at Softpedia, several users confirmed in this reddit discussion that similar bugs are hitting their devices as well.

The issue only affects Face ID iPhones with an alphanumerical passcode and typically occurs when the facial recognition system doesn’t instantly detect the registered face. The thread starter says one way to reproduce this is to keep the iPhone out of view before unlocking it.

Bug already reported to Apple

Once Face ID is triggered and the iPhone unlocks, tapping the lower part of the iPhone generates the typical visual input for typing, which appears to suggest the keyboard is running in the background but is not visible on the screen. A similar behavior has already been confirmed on the iPhone X and iPhone XS, but as said, we couldn’t reproduce it on several iPhone 11 Pro units running the latest iOS version.

The problem appeared in iOS 12 and is yet to be fixed, according to the redditor who reported it. Others also confirmed this issue exists on their devices.

“I have reported this to Apple over 10X and even to the security bug bounty place to get some sort of reply, and you know what I got ? A , sorry this isn’t a security issue and completely ignored it months ago. I have lost all hope in it getting fixed, if we can at least spread awareness about it maybe there can be a chance,” the redditor explains.

While this isn’t necessarily a security bug, it’s something that needs to be fixed in a future update, albeit for the time being, nobody can tell if it’s a widespread problem or not.