How to Disable Password and Auto-Lock in iPhone?

In our earlier, we have explained how to disable password and change screen lock duration in Android phones. Like Android, iPhone also offers multiple options for locking your phone’s screen. If you do not have any personal data or using old iPhone as a secondary device, then it is easy to disable the password. You can do this in multiple ways depending upon the option you use for locking your screen.

Using Passcode in iPhone

On iPhone, the password is generally referred as passcode as you need to use numeric numbers as a password. Though it is possible to setup custom alphanumeric password, many users simply use the numeric passcode. Old iPhone models with home button offers Touch ID and passcode options. However, the latest models without home button offers Face ID and password instead of Touch ID. Whether you have Face or Touch ID, it is still necessary to have a passcode for alternate verification purposes. You iPhone will also randomly ask you to enter the passcode to continue using Face or Touch ID. This essentially means disabling the passcode will also disable your Face/Touch ID.

Below are some of the ways you can disable the passcode and Face ID or change the auto-lock duration.

1. Disable Passcode in iPhone

Follow the below instructions to completely disable the passcode in iPhone:

• Tap on “Settings” app and go to “Face ID & Passcode” section.

• Enter your current passcode to go to next screen.
• Go down in the settings page and tap on “Turn Passcode Off” option.

• You will see a warning that your Apple Pay cards and car keys will be removed from Wallet.
• Tap on “Turn Off” to disable the passcode.

2. Only Disable Face ID

As mentioned, disabling the passcode will remove your fingerprint and face recognition setup. Instead of this, you can also only disable Face ID and continue using the passcode.

• Go to “Settings” app and tap on “Face ID & Passcode” option.
• Here you can choose for which options you want to use Face ID. For example, you can turn “iPhone Unlock” option off to use your passcode instead of Face ID to unlock the screen.
• If you completely want to remove the Face ID setup, simply tap on “Reset Face ID” option.

This will instantly delete and remove your current Face ID setup without any warning. If you want to use the Face ID, you have to setup the facial recognition again.

3. Disable or Change Auto-Lock Duration in iPhone

You iPhone will automatically lock the screen after certain time of inactivity and you need to enter the passcode to unlock the screen. This may be annoying when you are reading or need to look away from the screen for few minutes. The best way to deal this is to increase the auto-lock duration or temporarily disable it in the settings.

• Tap on “Settings” app and go to “Display & Brightness” section.
• Scroll down and find the “Auto-Lock” option.
• You can see the current duration and tap on it.

• On the next screen, you will see a list of durations to select.
• Tap one of the durations you want to setup ranging from 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes to 5 minutes.
• Unlike Android, you have an option to completely disable auto-lock by selecting “Never” option.

Remember, iPhone will automatically set the auto-lock duration as 30 seconds when it goes to low power mode. That is when the iPhone goes below 20% of battery, the auto-lock duration will be changed to 30 seconds and you will not be able to change setting. The problem is that the low power mode will be disabled when you charge the phone to more 80% of battery. Until then your screen will get locked automatically within 30 seconds of inactivity. This may be annoying and you can disable the low power mode by going to “Settings > Battery” section. Now, you can set any duration for your auto-lock setting.

Final Words

Depending upon your situation, you can either disable Face ID or completely disable password in iPhone. However, make sure you are removing passcode only when you have no need of securing your phone. Otherwise, the best option is to temporarily disable or increase the auto-lock duration to avoid frequently entering the passcode. Android offers Smart Lock feature to have custom settings for disabling screen lock like when you are in the house location. However, this type of feature is currently not available in iPhone which you can expect soon from Apple.