Since 1st TouchID on iPhone, Apple has never used the same sensor everyone else used. Their TouchID is their exclusive tech so why this should be different? 🤷🏻‍♂️
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
New iPad Air's Touch ID Power Button an 'Incredible Feat of Engineering' According to Apple VP
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
From my experience, TouchID on that big iphone button was problematic enough that I disabled it after many attempts of using it. This iPad button being even smaller will only make it more prone to failed readings IMO. FaceID works so much better and more consistently for me...
That's different. The fingerprint sensors on phones are capacitive, meaning you just tap it to scan your fingerprint. The one used in older laptops would have you slide your finger to scan the print, and the accuracy is not that great.
People, wear them. Mississippi removed the mask requirements. Everybody’s use case is different.
Names would help this incredibly useful and juicy tidbit.
I think this was Apples' plan all along.
Post edit: And as someone below pointed out, my new to me, ipad 7th gen has touch id. And after face id, it's not as good overall...but I can see why some would want to have both.
Last edited:
They didn’t bring anything back - it’s always been on the iPad Air. What are you talking about?
I agree. But you are raining on the Apple hater's parade. All they can do is see the negative. So much hate they can not think clearly and logically like you did.
From a security standpoint, if you're OK with a photograph of a fingerprint unlocking a device, that's cool.
Also... On my iPhone X, a three year old phone, iOS 14 is noticeably faster/smoother.
It's a custom design. You might not be aware that in 2012 Apple acquired AuthenTec, a company that specialized in biometric sensors for mobile applications and devices, for $356 million. Which is why Apple is leading in that area.
Jealous owners wishing they had an iPhone?
was thinking the same. Is it different to what others I believe have been offering for 2 years or so?
My thoughts exactly. It might be marketing BS but also everything else you said and maybe more might be true.
One critical metric re false positive is how many data points it uses for matching hence what level of discrimination it can achieve. I've seen the discrimination level quoted for FaceID but can't remember the exact number. I think something like 1,000,000 i.e. one in about 1,000,000 other people on the planet will have a face that generates the same input pattern as the registered face does hence will be recognised by the matching algorithm as the registered face and will unlock for them perfectly every time (or as perfectly as it does for the registered person's face). In any event there is a number (an estimate obviously) published for that and I'm sure the same data is available for the various implementations of TouchID.
What might be interesting about this new TouchID-on-power-button implementation is that it probably has to work with a smaller contact area between the sensor and the user's finger and assuming Apple wants to at least maintain the same reliability and security (particularly the discrimination metric) on the new sensor I can't see any other way to do that other than by increasing the number of meaningful(*) data points per square millimetre of contact area that it can reliably read in whatever scan time is acceptable. To do that it either needs to increase reading resolution or be able to go deeper in extracting subcutaneous data points (existing TouchID already does some subcutaneous scanning), or some combination of the two. It is entirely possible that was indeed a huge engineering challenge and if so then well done Apple engineers for solving it.
I love FaceID but can see that both options would be great and if TouchID does get added back then for me on the power button would actually be preferable to under screen. The only use case for TouchID that I really missed (ignoring recent mask issues) is that in the old days when using Apple Pay I could reach into my pocket for my phone, feel for the Home button and double-click it as I was pulling the phone out of my pocket so that in one clean action I could get it out of my pocket primed and ready to scan, present it to the card machine, and put it back in my pocket. I think that TouchID on the power button has the best chance of my being able to trigger ApplePay by feel while the phone is still in my pocket (I just tried that now by pretending the power button was a TouchID sensor and it felt fairly natural and easy to do).
(*) meaningful in that they are data points that can be used to discriminate between different individuals and can be used by the matching algorithm to increase the discrimination number.
I am honestly considering an Android phone as a secondary phone next to my iPhone 11 Pro Max so I can already have a taste what the iPhone 23 Super Pro Giga Max will be like.
The latest series of Xiaomi phones are amazing! I made the mistake of looking at a couple of reviews on YouTube for some of their latest models and the technology in these mobiles are incredible!!
We need much less hyperbole from Apple and much more innovation! 120 hz screens in 2021 iPhones is not going to cut it.
I mean let's face it; Apple is in a pickle here, particularly during a global pandemic where we are now wearing masks, If they were not going to continue to modernize touch ID in some way they should have gone the in-screen fingerprint route.
Maybe my personal definition of innovation, but to me innovation clearly isn't a bump in screen resolution or refresh rate. And 120hz phones in 2021 aren't going to cut it? That will be the new standard moving forward. It will take a few years to get there.
Last edited:
If they don't it will be a huge screw up for Apple. In this day and age of masks its desperately needed. And I don't want to hear from Apple "We couldn't predict the pandemic and didn't have time to integrate it." This has been asked for since the introduction of FaceID and they have had plenty of time to integrate it into the iPhone.
Having it integrated would be enough of a reason for me to upgrade and I truly hope they have it in the iPhone 12.
Need this on iPhone a$ap.
Literally, it's the difference between me sticking with the SE2 or going with the baby 12.
Literally, it's the difference between me sticking with the SE2 or going with the baby 12.
i'm aware of gloves that work on the touchscreen but none that can work through a glove. can you link one? maybe send it to the fellow below.
the 10 of you that need this can get another phone.