Lately, I’ve been experiencing a weird bug with my iPhone X, which is having the device unlock itself while in my jeans pocket. No, this is not a joke, but my iPhone X is probably haunted—or the answer is it’s a bug related to iOS 11.2.6 and older.
Here’s how it happens: I finish texting within Messages, then lock my iPhone X with the sleep/wake button. Then, a few minutes later, I feel buzzing in my pocket and hear sounds of receiving text messages within iMessage. I reach into my pocket and my iPhone X is unlocked and Messages is open…#mindblown.
It turns out I’m not alone in experiencing this, as this Reddit thread from three months also has a bunch of users griping about it. Not only is it a security issue, but it’s also annoying to suddenly have your iPhone on in your pocket, as the screen goes to full brightness and drains the battery.
Anyone else ever experience their iPhone X or other iPhone unlock by itself in your pocket?
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No but I’m on 11.3 beta.
Gary, you surely must be wearing the new iPhone X jeans. This is not a bug, it’s a feature. Where did you get them?
Gary’s wearing Apple’s next big thing. It’s called iJeans. Soon you’ll be able to shake your ass, to answer calls
Shake Dat Boot-tay to Unlock
Ass-recognition is the way of the future! 🙂
Lol, clearly I’m wearing my pants wrong!
I’ve had the same thing happen to me as well – glad I’m not the only one!
Same thing was happening to me. The problem is the “Raise to listen” in iMessage settings. I turned it off and it never happened again.
Happened to be a few times aswell. Always thought I just didn’t press the power button hard enough or somethinf
Thought it was me. A few times I pulled my 7+ out of my pocket and it was unlocked. Didn’t think anything if it. Not sure if it’s just X issue.
And I have a problem with my keyboard suddenly not working on my iPad at various times.. Locking and unlocking it “fixes” the problem The issue has been had by many,mentioned in the apple support forum a few months ago….nothing – so good luck with your bug.
It happens to me too.
It’s happens to me too
i had it once my iphone got so hot and pulled it out and maps was open.
This has been happening to me as well…but on an iPhone SE..
This is just as bad as having the black/blank unlock screen I’ve been having! (No clock+swipe up to unlock shows on screen and everything on the lock screen disappears)
I’ve definitely been plagued with this although i’m not sure if unlocking is the issue. I think, as another commenter points out, that it has to do with the voice message feature. Perhaps the gyroscope is messed up and incorrectly activates the ‘raise to speak’ while inverted thinking that you’ve raised the phone to your face? In any event, it’s super annoying I once pulled my phone out with an 8-minute long voice note, meaning that the phone had been “active” that whole time in my pocket.
For me, I consciously click the Sleep/Wake button to lock the phone. The screen is off, no question. There’s no way it should automatically unlock in my pocket, without authentication of some sort. Imagine if somebody’s iPhone was in a bag and an active group chat would keep the display on, if this purse/bag was stolen, a thief would have full access.
Yeah I know what you mean, there is definitely something fishy going on. For me, I think I don’t quite click the Sleep/Wake button fully as I’m moving the phone into my pocket and then ‘raise to speak’ engages and the screen goes dark (as it would normally if I was using ‘raise to speak’ under normal circumstances) and I think the iPhone is locked, but it isn’t. It’s notable that this only happens when iMessage is open, so clearly something to do with that app in my view.
Related: I have tested whether the screen goes to sleep automatically while in my pocket and, strangely, it occasionally does not when inverted in my pocket with iMessage open. For example, when I do not lock iPhone and just shove it in my pocket upside down with iMessage open, it will not auto-lock (at least not always). However, if any other app is open or the iPhone is right-side-up and I repeat the above, it does to sleep automatically within the time set in Settings.
I feel like all this has something to do with the proximity sensor and iMessage as it relates to the ‘raise to speak/listen’ functionality.
Ahhh… I had this happen only once. I heard FaceTime dialing out inside my pocket, kinda confused me as I never place my phone in my pocket while it’s on.
Thanks for the info.
What did Apple say to you about this?
This is an old article but I have a theory on how this happens. You lock the phone and while it’s on the lock screen you look at it long enough for it to unlock (but still be on the lock screen). As you slide your phone in to your pocket the phone detects enough of your leg skin through your pants pocket to trigger the swipe up gesture, and then it will be unlocked and active in your pocket running whatever is triggered by the touching of your leg. I’ve noticed this a couple of times now, usually when I’ve just texted someone. I take the phone back out of my pocket and it’s recording an iMessage audio clip, which can be triggered by having the phone unlocked, in a message to someone, and raising the phone to your face. Might be a hard one for Apple to fix.