
iPhone X: Face ID lost after a drop
The customer dropped the phone on tiles, and Face ID stopped recognizing the face. We restored the dot projector module at the top edge, calibrated it, and checked unlocking — everything works.
Face ID on iPhone X says "unavailable" — we'll check the sensors and, if the module is repairable, fix it within a day.

A failing Face ID shows itself in different ways: an unavailable message, no recognition after a knock, a setup that will not scan or lost camera effects.
The phone says Face ID could not be activated and asks you to try later, although you changed nothing.
It used to unlock at a glance, but after a drop or a screen swap it stopped responding to your face.
The circle does not fill or stops halfway, and the face cannot be added in Settings.
Portrait lighting and animated emoji no longer work on the front camera, although the selfie camera still shoots.
The cost of Face ID repair for the iPhone X is in the table; the technician names the final amount after checking the module.
| Service | Original | Aftermarket |
|---|---|---|
| Front camera replacement | 44 900 ₸ | 24 900 ₸ |
| Proximity sensor replacement | 36 900 ₸ | 21 900 ₸ |
| Display replacement | 55 900 ₸ | 33 900 ₸ |
| Battery replacement | 39 900 ₸ | 22 900 ₸ |
| Back glass replacement | 38 900 ₸ | 24 900 ₸ |
| Housing replacement | 74 900 ₸ | 41 900 ₸ |
| Camera glass replacement | 22 900 ₸ | 12 900 ₸ |
| Main camera replacement | 55 900 ₸ | 30 900 ₸ |
| Charging port replacement | 31 900 ₸ | 18 900 ₸ |
| Earpiece speaker replacement | 36 900 ₸ | 21 900 ₸ |
| Speaker replacement | 32 900 ₸ | 19 900 ₸ |
| Microphone replacement | 34 900 ₸ | 20 900 ₸ |
| Button replacement | 37 900 ₸ | 22 900 ₸ |
| Vibration motor replacement | 36 900 ₸ | 21 900 ₸ |
| Other repairs | Price | |
| Face ID repairpaired to the board — no aftermarket | 32 900 ₸with parts | |
| Water damage cleaningcorrosion cleaning · diagnostics up to 2 days | 17 900 ₸per job | |
| Power controller replacementboard-level chip · microsoldering | 43 900 ₸with parts | |
| Wi-Fi module repairwireless module · board-level repair | 21 900 ₸with parts | |
| Logic board repairmicrosoldering · 1–3 days | 27 900 ₸per job | |
| Storage replacement and upgradememory chip installation | 53 900 ₸with parts | |
| Firmware flashingsoftware restore, no parts replaced | 15 900 ₸per job | |
If the sensors are damaged more deeply, the scope of work becomes clear at the check, and you decide whether to go on.
The work follows a chain: sensors, flex cable, board, restoring the part, reassembly and a final recognition test.

The technician tests the dot projector, the infrared camera and the light sensor to find the faulty part.

The sensor block's flex cable is examined under magnification for cracks, oxidation and traces of impact or moisture.

Sensor power lines are measured and connectors compared to see where the signal is lost.

If the damage can be mended, the cable or circuit is repaired; what cannot be done, the technician says at once.

The body is closed with a new gasket and the sensor block returned to its place without distortion.

We set up scanning again and try unlocking, payments and sign-in to apps.
The work is done by technicians who do micro-repair on boards every day.
Price for my modelTwo paths are possible for Face ID: restore the sensors already in the phone or change the part, and the choice depends on what exactly has failed.


Face ID repair is done under magnification, so it matters that the estimate is honest and the work can be done in Astana.
The work carries a warranty up to 1 year: if face unlock starts to misbehave, the technician looks at the phone again.
We have worked with Apple devices for 11 years, and tricky sensor cases on the X are nothing new to our technicians.
Face ID parts are tiny, so experienced technicians work under magnification and never rush.
If a sensor cannot be restored, we say so at once instead of swapping parts at random.
We receive visitors Monday to Friday 10:00–19:00, and weekends and holidays 11:00–18:00, so finding a time is easy.
We are waiting in Astana; the same service exists in Almaty, and the warranty stays with you when you move.

The customer dropped the phone on tiles, and Face ID stopped recognizing the face. We restored the dot projector module at the top edge, calibrated it, and checked unlocking — everything works.
The whole journey — from message to finished phone. We give you the old part.
Book a repairYou message us on WhatsApp with the model and what happened — we give you the price and time. Or you come in without an appointment.
We check Face ID, the projector, and the front camera to determine which component has failed.
We note the model, the part (original or aftermarket), the price, the timeframe, and the warranty.
We open the factory packaging in front of you and check the number against the receipt.
We work on the Face ID module under a microscope and seal the case with water-resistant adhesive.
Face ID setup, unlocking, front camera. You pick up the phone and the receipt.
Technicians for iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods repair.
Photo: Bakmukhammed S.
Photo: Galymzhan S.
Photo: Zhandos Sh.
Photo: Darkhan T.
Photo: Kudiret S.The display next to the module often suffers along with the sensors.
02We check the selfie camera and the proximity sensor.
03We clean the grille or replace the speaker if callers sound faint.
04While the phone is open, a fresh battery can be fitted.
05We replace or clean the port if charging is patchy.
06We look for causes of faults unrelated to the sensors.

“If the repair didn’t suit you or you have a complaint, write to me personally.”
Send a photo of the screen and the iPhone model. An engineer will reply on WhatsApp, give the price and today's available time.
iPhone X Face ID Repair in Astana with a Clear Diagnosis
At iServices in Astana, an iPhone X Face ID repair begins with a free 15-minute diagnostic in front of you, so the engineer shows which TrueDepth part has failed. We restore the original module instead of fitting a foreign one, and most jobs finish while you wait.
Face ID is not one sensor but a small system, so the exact wording on screen already narrows down which part stopped responding. Read it before assuming the worst.
The phrasing matters, because "Face ID Is Not Available" points to a hardware fault in the TrueDepth module, while "Unable to Activate Face ID" usually appears after a repair or a part swap that broke the pairing with the board. A third prompt, asking you to move the phone lower or higher, is the mildest case: the dot projector and infrared camera still answer, but the flood illuminator is too weak to map your face in low light. This assembly is a stack of four components, all fed through the upper ribbon that also carries the front lens. When that ribbon is pinched or torn, iOS loses several of them at once and reports the whole assembly as unavailable. If the warning appeared right after a screen replacement elsewhere, the upper ribbon was likely damaged during reassembly — that is repairable.
| What you notice | Likely part | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| No face setup at all, message on screen | Dot projector | Module fault, needs bench work |
| Face not recognised in the dark only | Flood illuminator | IR light weak or dead |
| Screen stays on at your ear | Proximity sensor | Upper ribbon damaged |
| Front lens black, Face ID dead | IR camera or ribbon | Often one shared ribbon |
| Works, then drops after a drop | Projector shifted | Physical displacement |
The most common request we hear is to order a fresh Face ID unit and fit it. That is not how this hardware works, and understanding why saves people from a pointless purchase.
Every TrueDepth unit is paired with the Secure Enclave of one specific logic board, so a part taken from another device will physically fit but never unlock anything. During manufacture it gets a cryptographic key that only the matching board can read, and iOS checks that handshake at every unlock attempt. Swap in a donor unit and the sensor reports an error instead of a face. People still buy these parts online after reading that the swap is "just a cable." It is not — the pairing lives in silicon, not in the connector. A cheap donor part ends up as dead stock in a drawer, so the honest path is repairing the original unit.
We work on the original components, restoring the flex, the dot projector or the connector on the board, and we do board-level work under a microscope. The flex cable that feeds the dot projector cracks after drops and bends; a torn trace is re-run with micro-jumper wire thinner than a hair. Liquid damage usually hits the connector pads, which we clean and re-solder rather than replace. Our engineers handle the board itself under a microscope, because the projector's contacts sit within fractions of a millimetre of neighbouring traces. A repaired original module keeps its pairing, so Apple Pay, Animoji and the portrait front camera come back together with the unlock, not one at a time.
On the iPhone X the same three scenarios come up again and again, and one of them is created by repair work itself rather than by the owner.
A drop shifts or cracks the dot projector, water leaves oxidation on the flex and connector, and a careless earlier repair damages the upper flex that carries the proximity sensor. The TrueDepth stack sits at the top edge of the screen, so a fall onto a corner lands almost directly on it. Liquid is slower: it seeps under the shield, dries, and eats the contacts for weeks before the first error appears. Work done elsewhere is the third path — a battery job where that same upper strip was bent, torn or left unclipped, and Face ID stopped working the same day. After liquid contact the diagnostic itself can take up to two days, because oxidation keeps spreading and a component that tests fine on day one may fail on day two.
When we replace a screen on an iPhone X, we move the original upper flex with its sensors onto the new panel, which is exactly what keeps Face ID working afterwards. The infrared camera, dot projector and flood illuminator are matched to the logic board, so they travel with the phone, never with the new glass. In our workshop the transfer is done under magnification, and the sensor strip is seated and clipped before the panel goes back on the frame. The choice between an original and an aftermarket screen affects brightness and True Tone behaviour, but the sensor transfer is what decides whether Face ID survives at all. Ask any technician to confirm in writing that your original sensors stay in the phone before they open it.
The workflow is built so that you know the part, the turnaround and the warranty before anyone opens the phone, and so that you watch the result being tested.
You send a photo of the damage on WhatsApp, an engineer replies within five minutes with a price, and the price, part, turnaround and warranty are fixed on the receipt in about two minutes before work starts. If travelling across the city is inconvenient, a courier can be called to collect the device. We work with original and aftermarket parts, and 64% of customers choose an original one; whichever you pick is written on the paper alongside the promised completion time. Fixing those four points on paper turns a verbal estimate into something you can hold the workshop to. For iPhone X Face ID repair in Astana, this same sequence applies from the first message to the fixed receipt.
Diagnostics take 15 minutes in front of you and stay free even if you decide not to repair, and 72% of our repairs are finished while the customer waits in the seating area with coffee and Wi-Fi. The engineer opens the device at the bench rather than behind a closed door, so you see the TrueDepth assembly and the surrounding components before anything is touched. Most jobs of this type take 20 to 40 minutes, and the whole process from first contact to pickup usually comes in under an hour. Watching the engineer open the device and show the new component in its factory packaging is the simplest way to confirm that what is on the receipt is what goes in.
After the repair we run a 32-function check of about ten minutes, and you go through Face ID, True Tone, cameras, microphones, speakers, charging and network together with the engineer. The device comes back with the receipt, the warranty card and the old component in your hands, so nothing about the swap stays hidden. Our technicians have handled more than 46,000 repairs over 11 years, and the warranty runs up to 1 year. Testing Face ID in bright light and in a dim room catches a weak flood illuminator that a single unlock attempt in the workshop would miss.
Once the phone leaves the bench, a few practical details decide how smoothly the next weeks go, from the paperwork in the box to the settings worth checking at home.
The device comes back with the receipt, a warranty card covering the work up to 1 year, and the replaced component itself, so nothing about the job disappears once you walk out. Our engineers fill the paperwork before the phone is closed up, and the figures on it match what was agreed on WhatsApp: the component fitted, the time spent and the warranty term. We hand over the swapped-out unit in a small bag rather than keeping it in a drawer, and 64% of customers here choose an original component, which the receipt names explicitly. Keep that used unit: it is the physical proof of what was changed if a question comes up months later.
A short recap of what decides the outcome of an iPhone X Face ID repair, whether the sensor can be saved at all, and which guarantees are worth asking for before you hand the phone over.
Did not find an answer? Message us on WhatsApp: an engineer replies, not a bot.
Ask a questionNot always. The sensors are paired with the phone's board, so a foreign part may not work. After the check the technician says which option is possible.
Often the sensor cable is to blame, damaged or wrongly connected during assembly. Sometimes the part suffered when the phone was opened. Diagnostics is needed.
Yes, the phone works with a passcode, and calls, the camera and apps remain available. Only functions tied to your face are unavailable.
The system could not start one of the sensors. The cause may be software or hardware, so first restart the phone and update iOS.
Yes, moisture is one of the most common reasons Face ID fails on an iPhone X, since the TrueDepth parts sit right under the notch. After the phone gets wet, switch it off and do not charge it. The sooner it is cleaned, the better the chance of saving the sensors.
If the hint repeats no matter how you hold the phone, it usually means the dot projector is not working rather than a wrong angle. Clean the notch area and remove any screen protector covering it first. If setup still cannot finish, the TrueDepth system needs diagnostics.
The technician says so after diagnostics and explains which options remain. The phone keeps working with a passcode.
Сначала думала сам поменять, посмотрел видео и передумал. Приехал с мороза, занёс — и камера Face ID не видит. Сказали, что перезвонят, и правда перезвонили. Нужна была новая деталь: шлейф Face ID. Вернули — проверил, всё ок.
У нас в офисе три таких ноутбука, один сломался. Проблема — камера Face ID не видит. Пользуюсь и вспоминаю добрым словом.
У нас в офисе три таких ноутбука, один сломался. Оставила заявку на iPhone X. Проблема — камера Face ID не видит. Приняли, объяснили, что и почему. Функционирует, тьфу-тьфу)
Problema — Face ID otkazal. Bakmukhammed S. provozilsia, no sdelal. V aiservis privel znakomyi, u nego tut chinili iPhone. Posle remonta — kak novoe.

The difference is not always visible, but it can be checked. An original panel is the one the manufacturer installs; an aftermarket copy costs about 35% less.

What “maximum capacity” means, why the phone shuts down in the cold, and how long a new battery lasts.

Power it off, skip the rice, and get the board checked before corrosion starts. Here is the short version of the first 30 minutes.

Most charging faults come from the cable, the port or the battery. Here is how to find the cause and get a free check.