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Love my MBA ... hate TouchID

Then solve your problem and don’t use Touch ID. Pretty simple. Personally, I love it and it works great. With so many people not having problems, I’m wondering what is causing yours. Potentially hardware issue or dirty/wet fingers, calloused fingers,
 
Maybe you are pressing too hard on the sensor. Just barely touch sensor and it should work and like Dan said above, clean hands, hydrate and moisturize and you should all be good, unless you just have no fingerprints to start with and since you were able to add a fingerprint, I doubt it is that.
 
I am surprised at the skepticism that TouchID would not work for some people. This has been a known problem since early on. While TouchID works flawlessly for many people, if not most, there are also many people that never worked well with TouchID, and that not due to user error. In fact, for many people, TouchID would work 100% of the time for days, and then the device would suddenly "forget" the prints entirely, and fail to recognize the user. I have seen multiple cases where people report the same problem with FaceID -- for them. I believe them, and it is not due to user error. But FaceID works 100% of the time for me.

Just believe the OP and stop trying to "fix" him or his problem, and sympathize with his demand for FaceID, since this has been a known issue for many people for a long, long time, and it also happens with some people with FaceID. He can register the same finger for 5000 times if the device would let him, keep his prints in perfect condition, and the problem will still occur for him. And it could recognize him for days, and then suddenly not. Again, for some people, the same thing happens for their faces.
 
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Have never had the slightest issue with Apple Touch ID on any device, and find FaceID to be a major PITA on my iPad Pro, but understand there are people with issues.

We will not see Face ID in the current form factor MacBooks until the system can be made to fit in the lid thickness as currently implemented. They could have a "camera bulge" on the obverse of the lid to allow the existing hardware to fit, but the shrieking would be heard throughout the land.
 
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I’m kind of the opposite where I find Face ID to be a hassle on my iPad, given its inaccuracy or just the wrong angle or distance from my face, and somewhat easier to just type a 4-digit pin code. Both are not my favorite, but certainly far from making me “hate“ or “detest” them and spoiling the experience. That being said, it does seem odd how the new Macbook laptops have the notch cutout and yet they can’t put Face ID in that space. I suspect if/when they do, it’ll be the same hassle where you have to either bring your face closer to the screen, or vice versa, and open your eyes etc. in a certain way. Not impressed w/ Face ID in general, in my limited experience.
 
Interesting that the OP and at least one other person reported issues with Touch ID with dry fingers. I've only have had problems with Touch ID when I have wet fingers, most notably from just getting out of the shower. I bet it's just not able to deal with expansion/contraction of skin very well.
 
Maybe yes if you are holding the MBA with one hand

image.jpg
 
TouchID won't work for me, but works perfectly for a family member when we tried it. I used to have have the same problem on my iPhone/iPad in the past.

Sometimes have skin peeling on my fingertips so probably why. Unlock with Apple Watch works great though so not a big issue for me.
 
TouchID has always been rock solid for me. I found it far more reliable than FaceID on my 2018 iPad Pro, and somewhat better than FaceID on my iPhone 13, and so far with my M2 Air it’s been great. Obviously I haven’t had this machine long but I have yet to need a second touch to get it to read.
 
Jack Neill said:
Yeah I use it perfectly with index, thumb on the Air would be awkward.
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Oddly I have a situation right now where I'm a passenger in the car where the thumb would be more beneficial to use than an index finger. The cool thing about the macbook features is that you can have as many finger prints that you think you'll use in order to unlock, and even have different features available depending on the fingerprint used. Pretty nifty, if I may say so myself.
 
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LeeW said:
Never had a single issue with touch id, works on my MBA and on the magic keyboard just fine.
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bluespark said:
Touch ID works really well with my fingers, but I can sympathize if that's not the case for you. One suggestion: Enter the same finger multiple times into different fingerprint profiles. Even adding your main finger one additional time can make a difference.

As to Face ID, I think most of us would like it, but it currently requires a camera that's thicker than the lid of an MBP. I suspect that's why it made it's way into the iPad but not the Mac. What's really surprising to me is that the Apple Studio Display doesn't have Face ID.
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Never have any problems with touch-id on either iOS or macOS. On Mac’s I only use indexfinger and longfinger. On iOS thumbs works fine too.
But adding the finger (s) a few times in different positions makes a difference.
Just have to elaborate with it and see what works best for oneself.
 
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I used touch ID on an earlier iPhone and it was just a tad finicky and slow. Not sure what device you have but Touch ID on my new MBA2 is so fast it seems almost telepathic, like it reads my finger before it even touches down. I don't care how fast you can type, you are not going to beat this. Not even close. Unless you have a one character password, which I am sure is disallowed. But if you like passwords, by all means keep doing that. Your call.

But I did take your suggestion and made my MBA2 password shorter and simpler. Like my Windows PIN. That was a great idea. I didn't think that Apple would allow such a weak password anywhere.
Stevenyo said:
I've been typing the same short random string for decades, it's second nature/muscle memory and always works. TouchID is a new gesture and works like 80% of the time.
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Yes. Got it last Thursday. Touch ID is much improved from what I remember, and it wasn't really bad then, IMO. But I'm not sure how it runs on the older mac notebooks since I never had one.

chrfr said:
Is this the MacBook Air with M2? It's way later than the 2nd generation MacBook Air.
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antiprotest said:
I am surprised at the skepticism that TouchID would not work for some people. This has been a known problem since early on. While TouchID works flawlessly for many people, if not most, there are also many people that never worked well TouchID, and that not due to user error. In fact, for many people, TouchID would work 100% of the time for days, and then the device would suddenly "forget" the prints entirely, and fail to recognize the user. I have seen multiple cases where people report the same problem with FaceID -- for them. I believe them, and it is not due to user error. But FaceID works 100% of the time for me.

Just believe the OP and stop trying to "fix" him or his problem, and sympathize with his demand for FaceID, since this has been a known issue for many people for a long, long time, and it also happens with some people with FaceID. He can register the same finger for 5000 times if the device would let him, keep his prints in perfect condition, and the problem will still occur for him. And it could recognize him for days, and then suddenly not. Again, for some people, the same thing happens for their faces.
Click to expand...

Even more surprising to me is that the OP's post received two angry reactions. They said they had a problem with dry skin and are struggling with their computer. Sounds like a good opportunity for sympathy rather than anger.

There is a chance that some advice given might help. But, they are just workarounds rather than fixes.
 
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Personally, I’ve always thought Touch ID on a Mac has been nothing to care about because I have an Apple Watch and it works fine.

If you don’t have an Apple Watch, then that wouldn’t be an answer.
 
Touch ID has worked perfectly on my new iMac keyboard since the day it arrived. Which is surprising to me because the constant use of my hands as a network contractor and working on mechanical and building projects have left my fingerprints well worn. While working as project manager at Joint Base Lewis McChord, I had to get a secure pass to get through the gates every day. Their fingerprint ID system had a hard time with my prints, obviously not as good as Apple's! It took 3 or 4 tries with several fingers before they would register.
 
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Joniz said:
Personally, I’ve always thought Touch ID on a Mac has been nothing to care about because I have an Apple Watch and it works fine.

If you don’t have an Apple Watch, then that wouldn’t be an answer.
Click to expand...

I also use the Apple Watch to unlock my computer. However, it leaves me uneasy because there are times it unlocks my computer when I'm not even sitting at it (sometimes from another room). Also, sometimes it fails, reporting that the wireless connection is too weak to unlock.
 
I use two fingers, each set up once. I've had my M1 MBA for 20 months and I don't think I've ever had to go for a second try with TouchID. Absolutely rock solid.
 
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