Apple Quietly Added New Passcode Requirement for Touch ID

[multipasser]

My Touch ID does not work when I'm charging. Very annoying.

 

[koolmagicguy]

Interesting; I wonder why they picked 8 hours. Most people sleep around that much, so this means folks will have to enter their password about once a week on average if they don't reboot their phone (most people don't)

Do you only sleep for eight hours once a week?

 

[RedOrchestra]

And really smart people will change it to a long, alpha numeric passcode for ultimate security

There is a behavioural correlation to that statement.

 

[spazzcat]

Okay, so Touch ID was meant to be an easier way to unlock the device, but Apple for some unknown reason requires people to use Passcode pretty much all the time... Then why the f*** do we have Touch ID?

Because courts are now making people unlock their phone if they are protected with just a finger print. After 8 hours, a judge can no longer make you unlock your phone.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Someone is more likely to get my password than my fingerprint. This is stupid. They should at least let you configure it how you want. IE: I would never, ever type in my password again.

 

[Gasu E.]

I have tried to set up touch ID numerous times and after its all set up it never recognizes my finger print to unlock my phone. Try it again, doesn't work. Different finger; doesn't work. Helped my mom set up hers, works great. Set up my girlfriends, works great. I don't know I think its my finger prints.

HRC has promised to open the X Files if elected. You may soon have your answers.

 

[kyliewylie]

The 6 digit passcode came as a default on the iPhone 6 I bought.

Most carrier stores will skip those options in the interest of time. Thats the cost of commission.

 

[iLG]

Excellent news! Now if only they'd add passcode/touch ID requirement for iPhone shut down

Pointless

 

[kyliewylie]

Someone is more likely to get my password than my fingerprint. This is stupid. They should at least let you configure it how you want. IE: I would never, ever type in my password again.

A fingerprint is physical property and can we warranted. Passcodes are intellectual property and cannot be forced from the user...

I think you're missing the point here.

 

[LordQ]

Excellent news! Now if only they'd add passcode/touch ID requirement for iPhone shut down

This a million times. I would have been able to track my stolen 4s if this was a thing.

 

[iLG]

Most people are not setting up a new phone, if they had 4 pin from a previous restore, they will have 4 in iOS 9. Majority of users are existing iPhone users with backups

Please don't confuse lazy and really smart. A long alphanumeric passcode is not ultimate security , it's better security.

Passcode isn't stored in the backup.

 

[Jeremy1026]

Okay, so Touch ID was meant to be an easier way to unlock the device, but Apple for some unknown reason requires people to use Passcode pretty much all the time... Then why the f*** do we have Touch ID?

Today I learned: First thing in the morning = pretty much all the time.

 

[tbrinkma]

8 hours is actually not that much, but I like the security. Besides, it's no big deal entering a password, even if it's once a day.

It's not once a day. It's when *both* conditions are met:
A) 6-days without password unlock, and
B) 8-hours without TouchID unlock

That's basically once a week. (Potentially less often if you get less than 8 hours of sleep a night.)

 

[American Hero]

Excellent news! Now if only they'd add passcode/touch ID requirement for iPhone shut down

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.

Are you saying the iPhone should require a pass-code after it's shut off/restarted and then turned back on? The iPhone already forces you to use the pass-code after the phone is shut off/restarted.

Are you saying it should require a fingerprint and/or pass-code before being shut off/restarted? I think that would be pointless.

 

[AFEPPL]

My phones been playing these silly games for months now.
Backward step.

 

[tbrinkma]

Agree. Though it seems that after the FBI spat, security is going to used as a markerting feature of the iPhone to sell more units.

Though I'd love to be a fly on the wall when TC talks security with the Chinese though. He must have two very different speeches contradicting themselves .
[doublepost=1463636950][/doublepost]

For Apple Pay $$$$

I don't get the 8 hours, for many people , that now means they will be forced every morning to put in the passcode again.

On the flipside, when you are used to using touchid all the time, to now having to put in your pin again ad hoc , I can see people going back to 4 pin passcode for quicker access...

It isn't *just* 8 hours. It's when *both* conditions are true:
1) 8 hours without TouchID unlock, and
2) 6 days without passcode unlock.

If you can fit 6 days into 8 hours, let me know how.
[doublepost=1463664033][/doublepost]

Well I think the '8 hours without Touch ID' rule will get a lot of people since a lot of people sleep around 7-8 hours.

It's not '8 hours without Touch ID *OR* 6 days without passcode'. It's '8 hours without Touch ID *AND* 6 days without pass code'.

Since they say this is something that has been in place since 9.0, that actually explains the periodic 'need passcode when you wake up in the morning' issue people have been complaining about. It hasn't been the phone 'crashing and rebooting' like people have assumed, it has been 6 days without unlocking via passcode and 8 hours without unlocking via Touch ID.

 

[rdlink]

As someone who considers the possibility that the government will seek out and find something incriminating on my phone almost as likely as being struck by lightening twice in the same day, I find the constant demand to double-unlock it for my own use to be nothing better than an annoying sop to the massively paranoid.

Here you go: https://store.google.com

I'm sure you can find a less annoying alternative here. I'll stick with the security and privacy of my iPhone, thank you very much.

 

[C DM]

Yeah, it was in there since iOS 9.0. I rarely use my iPad Mini, and I've noticed for several months that it's been asking for my passcode after I leave it sitting around for a few days. So nothing new.

That's the requirement to enter a passcode if the device hasn't been unlocked for 48 or more hours (or the one related to needing it if the device restarted). This is all very similar but a different scenario.

 

[Mactendo]

The Bill of Rights means more to me than any inconvenience I may have from my long, complex password on my iOS devices. I'm glad these changes are being made.

But it means nothing to the dozens of millions iPhone users in other countries. It should be configurable.

 

[C DM]

So that means after most people wake up in the morning they will have to enter the passcode.

Oh that's useful, 8 hours! Way to go to make your ease if use features not easy to use Apple.

I think 12 hours or more is acceptable, not the length of time you sleep.
Just seems like a knee jerk reaction which isn't solving any problem.
Perhaps it would have been better for Apple to let you decide how long the time is, say 8, 10, 12 hours etc, but that's it Apple then.
[doublepost=1463653610][/doublepost]

A perfect reply to this news article and feature. Thank you sir. I totally agree.

I am still using an iPhone 5, therefore I do not have experience with Touch ID but I have some thought about it.

Apple is trying to protect privacy but it seems also that it is taking away freedom of choice to the users. The security timing should be fully customisable.

I would like to be able to unlock my iPhone with touch ID only, forever, and not having to input every 8 hours a long alphanumeric code etc. etc. This protection is enough for me. Maybe other peoples wants to have the option to get the passcode requested every two hours, fine. When a new iPhone is set up the first time, the user should have a screen where he/she can choose the preferred options.

It's not every 8 hours, there's another requirement to it that makes it much more rare, as has been pointed out in the article and many other posts.

 

[RedOrchestra]

The root problem is that 4 digits is still an option.

99.99% of the people who find an iPhone, wouldn't have the first clue about guessing how to break 4-digits - just be Zen.

 

[BeefCake 15]

Thank you Apple!

 

[macduke]

Is this why my iPhone has been asking for a passcode some mornings? I was worried it was having the same problem I first had with my 6s when it was released: Rebooting randomly during the night (and sometimes during the day) when I also had the hot home button issue. I ended up getting a replacement but wondered if this one was starting to do the same, but it didn't seem like a full reboot had happened.

I think something like this should be configurable. Or at least bumped to 9-10 hours, since most people sleep 6-8.

 

[MH01]

It isn't *just* 8 hours. It's when *both* conditions are true:
1) 8 hours without TouchID unlock, and
2) 6 days without passcode unlock.

If you can fit 6 days into 8 hours, let me know how.

I've just committed the worst sin on here, not reading the article and replying . My bad.

 

[C DM]

This a million times. I would have been able to track my stolen 4s if this was a thing.

Short of something simple like the SIM being removed or the reset being used to turn the phone off.
[doublepost=1463666548][/doublepost]

Is this why my iPhone has been asking for a passcode some mornings? I was worried it was having the same problem I first had with my 6s when it was released: Rebooting randomly during the night (and sometimes during the day) when I also had the hot home button issue. I ended up getting a replacement but wondered if this one was starting to do the same, but it didn't seem like a full reboot had happened.

I think something like this should be configurable. Or at least bumped to 9-10 hours, since most people sleep 6-8.

It's that at most only once a week as the requirement is much more than just not being unlocked for 8 hours, as the article and many other posts point out.