Increasing reliability of Touch ID

[syd430]

Thought i'd start a thread on sharing tips for how to improve the reliability of Touch ID on the 5s.

I find performance to be overall pretty good when lazily sitting around, but find that it tends to sometimes have the habit of failing in fast-pace, real-world use, particularly when i'm out and about and need quick access to my phone.

I've re-setup my prints a number of times, moving my thumb slightly in the first series of scans, then trying all sorts of angles that I think I might do in real-world use in the second series.

Given that Touch ID is supposed to learn your print better over time, I really thought that the success rate will slowly improve, but after a week of solid use, the fail rate is a little to high for me to rely upon it, and doesn't seem to be improving.

First off the bat, has anyone found success with registering multiple entries with the same thumb? I've heard arguments for and against this, as I read somewhere that it shouldn't be done because it will supposedly mess with the learning algorithms and fragment the information over many entries, potentially making it harder to register successfully. I haven't tried it myself yet, but wondering how others have improved reliability.

 

[fark]

I have not had any issues, fast paced, real world, out and about or otherwise.

 

[gCloud]

I found that after a week of use it got much much worse. I got the stage where I get process failed several times when registering a finger. Don't know if the sensor developed a fault or what. I have been on a lose weight quick diet maybe my fingers are changing form

 

[cbronfman]

Dry skin, puckered from swimming, cold

I now have two of my index finger. On the rare times my fingers are a healthy temperature, it works. But when my hands get very very dry like when I'm inside and washing them frequently - I made a second. When my hands are ice cold, I'll probably be wearing my gloves. Anyway - I haven't had a huge success. It works a few times, then stops working and doesn't seem to learn. When I did the second index finger, I tried to do it from the angles that I usually do and have been failing on the original effort. Because it works once or twice a day, I don't think it's faulty - I just think either my hands change with "conditions" or I haven't figured out just how to do it yet. I want it to work!

 

[BHP41]

I would say that I have a 98% success rate with it. In fact, when pressing the home button to just look at the lock screen it unlocks even when I didn't want it to.

I registered my thumb and how I would most often use it pressing the home button. That's with more of the front of my thumb than it being flat on the button. I did not move my thumb the entire time during this. It took quite a few times to get it set up as it wanted to go red then grey on certain areas. But once done. It works. I then registered my index fingers doing the same and in the positions I would use them in. And registered my wife's index and thumb. I have had only a few times that it has not unlocked in the first try. The whole moving it around thing I think is what is causing it not to work for some.

 

[syd430]

I now have two of my index finger. On the rare times my fingers are a healthy temperature, it works. But when my hands get very very dry like when I'm inside and washing them frequently - I made a second.

Funny anecdote - I went to unlock my phone right after I got out of the shower (with my thumb completely wrinkled up to the point that it was unrecognisable), and it had no problems at all recognising my finger on the first go. Touch ID is weird.

 

[syd430]

So... Has anyone tried this? Did it make it more reliable?

has anyone found success with registering multiple entries with the same thumb?

 

[projectone]

biometric service crashed

My 32gb grey had issues after the second day where it would only work 1/10 of the time. Tried resetting fingerprints, multiple copies of same fingerprint, restoring, and DFU restore. Nothing worked. Decided to bring it into the apple store today and they did a diagnostics and found that I had 12 apps that crashed lately. The genius showed me the report and I saw it listed "biometric..." among other system apps.

We tried to do a DFU restore at the store and setup the phone as a new iPhone and not from a backup. Setup touch ID and it didn't have issues saving my fingerprint. Was able to unlock it for about 10 tries and it started failing miserably again the next 30-40 attempts.

Got a new replacement and now its work phenomenal so far. I would say 14/15 successful attempts and I have tried about 100 attempts.

I would check the diagnostics log to see what if anything is failing that looks like it relates to touch ID.