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Fingerprint registering help

M

MTL18

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 25, 2013
205
72
Hi All.

Just got a 5S and the fingerprint scanner won't accept any of my trials! Must have gone through 30 times to try and add a fingerprint but it won't work.

Am I missing something extremely simple?

EDIT: Update: My scanner never stays red. It flashes red when I touch it but it never holds, so I can never fill the print!
 
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No part of the scanner actually saves. I can't get anything to stay red for longer than 1 second. I saw on a video that it should get red the more you touch it. Mine does not do this.
 
Have you tried restarting the phone in case something weird might be going on and that might get it back to normal?
 
MTL18 said:
No part of the scanner actually saves. I can't get anything to stay red for longer than 1 second. I saw on a video that it should get red the more you touch it. Mine does not do this.
Click to expand...

Either you are moving your finger too quickly, or you may have a faulty scanner / sensor. It took me a few attempts to get mine right, and it still find that it will refuse to work if I've just got out of the shower or had my hand in water.

If you can't get it to save one, then take the phone back.
 
Are you pressing down lightly, but not all the way down as one does to activate the phone, and keeping the finger tip on the home button until you feel the light vibration ? Than releasing it, and doing it again until it gets to the next level ? Or are you pressing too hard on the home button or releasing it too early ?
 
I popped into an Apple store this morning and the lady said "odd! Never seen this before".

I have a genius bar appointment tonight and she said it is either a software bug or a faulty sensor. Will be resolved tonight. I'll post the outcome.

For those that have replied: When I touch the sensor and hold it for a second or two, parts of the thumb print go red, but they never stay. They ramp down and go away. Once the screen is white again, I lift my finger. So at no point do I ever see the screen get progressively more red. As well, only the same thumb markings go briefly red each time, even if I use a completely different finger.

Something is wrong with it! We'll see if it is software or hardware.
 
MTL18 said:
I popped into an Apple store this morning and the lady said "odd! Never seen this before".

I have a genius bar appointment tonight and she said it is either a software bug or a faulty sensor. Will be resolved tonight. I'll post the outcome.

For those that have replied: When I touch the sensor and hold it for a second or two, parts of the thumb print go red, but they never stay. They ramp down and go away. Once the screen is white again, I lift my finger. So at no point do I ever see the screen get progressively more red. As well, only the same thumb markings go briefly red each time, even if I use a completely different finger.

Something is wrong with it! We'll see if it is software or hardware.
Click to expand...
And restarting the phone doesn't change that?
 
C DM said:
And restarting the phone doesn't change that?
Click to expand...

Correct. Restarting the phone via turning it off and resetting the phone via center/top button (until Apple logo is seen) does not fix or even improve my situation.
 
MTL18 said:
Correct. Restarting the phone via turning it off and resetting the phone via center/top button (until Apple logo is seen) does not fix or even improve my situation.
Click to expand...
Well, if nothing else is working perhaps resetting all settings if not restoring the phone as new might be worth a try.
 
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C DM said:
Well, if nothing else is working perhaps resetting all settings if not restoring the phone as new might be with a try.
Click to expand...

Could be! I'll see what the genius says. I don't believe that would help because the phone wants to set up the fingerprint before you even get to the home screen, and mine continually failed. I ended up bypassing it so I could at least start syncing.
 
Resolution: New phone. Faulty sensor. For anyone that stumbles on this in the future, if you can't register your finger, take the phone in. Should be a very simple process.
 
It's working very well! I registered my right thumb 4 times - just at different angles. That seems to make it so I can get into the phone nearly every time. At most it will need to scan twice.

Pretty decent. Definitely a gimmick, but one I use all the time so I enjoy it.
 
MTL18 said:
It's working very well! I registered my right thumb 4 times - just at different angles. That seems to make it so I can get into the phone nearly every time. At most it will need to scan twice.

Pretty decent. Definitely a gimmick, but one I use all the time so I enjoy it.
Click to expand...

I would suggest using only one slot per finger and registering multiple. I have 5 fingers registered, one per slot, with about a 95% scan success rate.

And I'm not sure how it's a gimmick. It's a faster way to unlock your phone, while keeping it secure with password protection (makes it especially easy to set a more complex password the the standard four digit code for extra security.)

Scanning with Touch ID is been faster than swiping to unlock without a pass code. I think it's a great feature.
 
Tyler23 said:
I would suggest using only one slot per finger and registering multiple. I have 5 fingers registered, one per slot, with about a 95% scan success rate.

And I'm not sure how it's a gimmick. It's a faster way to unlock your phone, while keeping it secure with password protection (makes it especially easy to set a more complex password the the standard four digit code for extra security.)

Scanning with Touch ID is been faster than swiping to unlock without a pass code. I think it's a great feature.
Click to expand...

I've registered same finger three (3) times. One, when dry, one after hot shower, and last one in very cold outdoor temps. Never an issue thus far
 
ABC5S said:
I've registered same finger three (3) times. One, when dry, one after hot shower, and last one in very cold outdoor temps. Never an issue thus far
Click to expand...

I have each finger registered once, and I don't have issues ever: when dry, after shower, etc. works just the same 90% of the time.

Guess it's all down to what you feel you need.
 
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