People are donning respirator masks as air quality worsens in San Francisco, and it's locking them out of Face ID
- The death toll from wildfires in Northern California has reached 84.
- As a result of the fires, air quality in the nearby San Francisco Bay Area has worsened, forcing many residents to don respirator masks.
- iPhone users in the Bay Area are pointing out the seemingly obvious: Face ID doesn't work while wearing the face masks.
The deadliest wildfire in California history has had unexpected effects across the US - including smoke that's blown so far that it's affected sunsets in New York City.
The air quality has become so bad in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is about 180 miles southwest of the fire's epicenter, that respirator masks are the new norm.
Hardware stores in the area are running out of masks, while Uber drivers are selling masks for $5 a pop as a side gig.
Some Bay Area folks who use an iPhone X, XS, or XR, or the latest iPad Pro, have noticed that Face ID no longer works when they're wearing the masks, and they're taking to social media to talk about it.
The software scans your face to unlock your phone - so, naturally, obscuring part of your face complicates its ability to function effectively.
It's hardly the first time that Apple's Face ID has annoyed iPhone users - some say the feature is too slow and burdensome.
Getting locked out of Face ID is a minor inconvenience. To date, 84 people have lost their lives in the Camp Fire, 870 remain missing, and Walmart parking lots are serving as evacuee camps for newly homeless Camp Fire survivors.
As flooding, wildfires, and other natural disasters become more commonplace around the world, even the smallest parts of people's daily lives will change in ways they never saw coming. No part of the iPhone is going to work in Miami in the year 2100 - when the city is slated to be totally underwater.