Face ID stopped working

Recently my Face ID on iPhone X stopped working. It didn't react to my face anymore and didn't even display an error while trying to unlock the phone, but rather just repeatedly trying to focus the image back and forth and -nothing. I did Face id function reset and tried to record a new face sample, but it was not possible. Same problem. Like the true sensor or camera is not managing to do the job supposed to do.

I googled it on the internet and mainly encountered suggestions to reset Face ID, Reset Settings of the iPhone or Erase and Reset the whole phone. I did all three and the problem still persists. Is it possible that it is a hardware bug?

The day before this problem started, the phone got a bit wet (I was on kayaking, and the phone was with me in the kayak, but the water that got to it was not at all that significant - it never went heavily underwater - maybe it was lying in an inch of water that was in a kayak for a short time)

Any ideas what I might do to solve this issue?

Thanks

Solution 1:

Yes, it is most likely that this is a hardware problem - although you couldn't really call it a "bug".

As this happened right after the phone was subjected to water, and none of the usual resets of the phone's software helped, it is most likely water damaged. You might think that an inch of water isn't much, but when you go kayaking that water isn't "pure water". It is likely that it has damaged the hardware somehow.

I would take it to Apple or a repair shop to get an estimate on the costs to fix it!