So I have never had any trouble with touch ID other than having to register the same finger three times. However, starting today, it has started to not even attempt to read my finger. It is like the capacitive ring is not registering that there is a finger in the sensor. I have been forced to use my password and then it goes back to working. Anyone else seeing this problem?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I think my Touch ID may be starting to fail
- Thread starter sclawis300
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I find that oil and dirt starts to build up on the home button which affected the FP scanner. Make sure you keep the home button clean by just wiping it off.
I have had the same issue here as well. It stopped reading my finger and no matter if my hands were dry, or pressed on the button perfectly, it would not read no matter what. I simply deleted the print, rescanned it, and we were back to normal. Just my 2 cents.
If you dont sign into the phone using touch ID for a set anount of time it will default to the passcode. This i believe is incase someone has stollen the phone and attempts to duplicate a fingerprint.
I thought the time for this was about 6 hours though
Password is required no matter what after a restart. Only after you input the password you will be able to use Touch ID.
Didn't restart. And it is not that the phone is giving me an error when reading the print, it is not even attempting to read it.
Clean the Touch ID button. When I start getting "Try Again"s I wipe it clean and have no problems.
But these are not "try agains". These are "there is no finger on the home button".
You might try putting in multiple copies of the finger you most want to use to activate the phone.
For some strange reason my right index finger will work every time but my right thumb doesn't want to work nearly as well. An Apple genius told me to try to put in more copies of my thumb and when I did it went to about a 99% success rate. It gives the phone more copies to work from.
For some strange reason my right index finger will work every time but my right thumb doesn't want to work nearly as well. An Apple genius told me to try to put in more copies of my thumb and when I did it went to about a 99% success rate. It gives the phone more copies to work from.
Verifying my finger print is not the problem. It is getting the phone to know that I want it to read my fingerprint in the first place.
It's actually more like 48 hours or a restart.
I've had it just not acknowledge my finger as well, but simply turning the screen off and back on has resolved my problems.
Mine has had some....mishaps as well. And these aren't like "I haven't used my phone in 48 hours" or "I just restarted it" these are the scanner isn't reading it sometimes.
I'm one of those people who keeps their stuff really clean (I also rock my phone's naked) and stuff so I really don't think it's dirt/grease......but every so often it won't recognize my thumb (it doesn't say "try again" - it just doesn't recognize a finger) 2-3 times in a row. I'll just enter my password that time as I notice it's not working. It's not all the time but it may get more annoying over time. Happens 1-3 times a day so far
To be honest I think it's just the fingerprint scanner. Just like it doesn't scan your finger correctly 100% of the time...I guess it doesn't have to work altogether 100% of the time. I'm still relatively happy as long as it's right 9/10 times
I'm one of those people who keeps their stuff really clean (I also rock my phone's naked) and stuff so I really don't think it's dirt/grease......but every so often it won't recognize my thumb (it doesn't say "try again" - it just doesn't recognize a finger) 2-3 times in a row. I'll just enter my password that time as I notice it's not working. It's not all the time but it may get more annoying over time. Happens 1-3 times a day so far
To be honest I think it's just the fingerprint scanner. Just like it doesn't scan your finger correctly 100% of the time...I guess it doesn't have to work altogether 100% of the time. I'm still relatively happy as long as it's right 9/10 times
I think it is more an issue with the capacitive ring around the sensor. That is what tells the sensor to scan.
My phone has been dead for a while so I don't know if the issue is still happening. Had to wait until I got to the office to get my charger. (Insert stupid rant about dumb apple changing the port just to make me buy new accessories and totally ignore the advances that the change actually makes)
With one of each finger registered in have a bout 95% success. Now I just have both thumbs registered twice and I'm getting pretty much 100% accuracy.
Same finger or different finger?
Make sure the home button sensor and ring are clean.
You could try a wipe & firmware restore.
Otherwise, it's time for a Genius Bar appointment and potential replacement. Although I haven't read about a fingerprint scanner failure yet here on MR, it's bound to happen.
Have you tried restarting? I was having all kinds of issues after the 7.0.3 update. My 5s was pausing all the time. Touch id was failing a lot. I restarted the phone and now everything is working perfectly again.