Can I disable Passcodes entirely?

[BotchQue]

Okay, I have "Zombie Finger", and it's getting worse; thank you to someone on this forum who identified the "condition". Many touchscreens don't respond to my finger; the ATMs for my bank do not, the thermostat in my new HVAC system doesn't (I had to have a neighbor program in my winter/summer/nighttime temps, fortunately I won't have to touch it again). My iPhone SE's Home/fingerprint button does okay, but actually tapping the screen, is 50/50, quite frustrating. Now, the fingerprint ID button on my MBP has gotten balky, my fingerprint only registers 1 out of 3 times or so; and if it fails three times in a row then I have to type in my long password, a big nuisance.
I've gone into my different settings and was able to turn the Touch ID completely off, but now I have to type that long password in every time, screw that. I did go into System Settings > Touch ID & Password > Change Login Password (at the top), but does that change on all my devices (desktop, iPad, phone, ATV)? That's a bugaboo when all your devices are synced to one account.
My main question is, is there a way to turn off ALL password/ID requirements on my MBP, just open it and it's booted? Yes, yes, yes I know that's not a good idea security-wise, but I'm retired and home most of the day, and don't take the MBP outside the house (plus its not automatically logged-in to my bank, retirement accounts, etc, so worst that could happen if it was stolen was I could be embarrassed on social media and a few forums).

This issue has been building, the "Zombie Finger" seems to be getting worse as I age, and I really started thinking about it with today's Marquez Brownlee review of the new "sport" level of the Tesla: the sharp styling, improved brakes, 0-60 time of 2.9 sec, and a list price of under $54K (that's before the $7K tax credit!). That's really enticing to me, but the interior is all touchscreen, they even went back to capacitive touchpads on the steering wheel! I wouldn't be able to drive that car.
My current Audi has all mechanical controls, but the newer Audis do not; if I live long enough to buy one more vehicle, it'll have to be a Mazda who (for now) swear off touchscreens as they're dangerous.

 

[ignatius345]

Why not just make your login password easier to type? I typed in my password for years and years before TouchID came out, and it's not a huge deal, so long as you don't pick something too horribly long or hard to type. My work Mac actually doesn't have a TouchID keyboard, so I'm still typing my password all day long there.

But, if you're dead set on this course of action (with the caveat that this is all a terrible, terrible idea from any security perspective)... if you go to Users & Groups, you can set "Automatically log in as" to log into your user account right after you boot. Apparently this will not work if you have FileVault enabled. Note that you're still going to be typing your password occasionally to do software updates and change certain settings, and I think you'll still need it to wake from sleep?

Another way to go: if you happen to have an Apple Watch, you can set it so that it unlocks your Mac for you automatically. That's a better option than leaving your Mac wide open.

 

[dmccloud]

Changing the login password/passcode only affects the device you are currently using. The only password that would affect all devices if changed would be the Apple ID password, because it's an account level login rather than device level. Like the previous poster suggested, using your Apple Watch to unlock the Mac can alleviate even having to enter a short login password.

 

[lukas.j]

In our office, the problem is often due to users placing their finger too steeply (and also registering the fingerprint this way when the device is first installed). The problem disappears – in most cases – when they register new fingerprints with their finger lying flat on the Touch-Id button, and then also login that way of course.

 

[softfree]

Yes, you can disable passcodes entirely on some devices, but it's not recommended for security reasons.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

My main question is, is there a way to turn off ALL password/ID requirements on my MBP, just open it and it's booted?

Well - that's actually two questions.

Can you turn off ALL password/ID requirements on your MacBook Pro? No. There will be some passwords you might need to enter on websites, potentially apps, etc. - and you will need to enter the login password when doing certain security-related functions.

Can you just open the MacBook Pro and it's booted? Yes. This article explains how.

 

[BotchQue]

Thanks for the replies, folks; much appreciated.

Get this: I had turned off the Touch ID for a couple days, and just typed in my long password, but that was frustrating too. I turned Touch ID back on (giving me a redundancy in case I screwed something up), and, Touch ID has worked every single time, the first time, ever since!! This makes no sense whatsoever to me, but I'll take it. If it starts screwing up again later I'll change the password on my MBP, but for now the Touch ID is working consistently. Weird.