Pixel 4's face unlock is inexplicably broken for some users

For some, the snazzy new face unlock system on Google's latest Pixel 4 is a whole lot less convenient than it should be. Reports over the last couple of months indicate that the face unlock process is simply failing for a handful of Pixel 4 and 4 XLs, even after re-enrolling their faces or resetting the phone. Thankfully, the issue doesn't sound too widespread.

The problem first popped up starting around November, escalating in frequency over more recent months. For many, the issue first appeared immediately after receiving one of Google's (recently delayed) monthly security updates, though it's also occurring without any apparent triggering action for others. Although there are reports of the issue at venues like the Pixel support forums, Reddit, and the XDA Forums, with some threads around 20-40 comments deep, the problem doesn't appear to be particularly widespread.

For those affected, two subtly different error messages are appearing when they attempt to use face unlock, which could indicate two different but potentially similar problems: "Can't verify face. Hardware not available" and "Can't verify face. Try again." For many that get these error messages, deleting and re-adding face data does not fix the issue.