Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I don't think Touch ID is terrible.

But I must say it's highly overrated which is very typical of Apple Hype.

It has its place and seems to work well most of the time, yet beyond that it's only one of many elements that make iPhone 6 a good phone.
 
Try scanning the same thumbprint twice. That was an early remedy when Touch ID had issues with "fading" in the early versions of iOS 7 (where the scan accuracy would progressively degrade over time). If you have rough hands, entering the same print twice will provide Touch ID with a lot more data points to use.

Ever since iOS 7.1, Touch ID has worked nearly flawlessly on my 5s. I don't even think about it anymore. I wake up the phone by pushing the home button, leave my finger on the button for an extra second, and it goes straight to the home screen. Works for me about 95% of the time, if not more, on the first try.
 
Pinky

Try that for awhile and see if it destabilize or stays stable. Your pinky is the least worn or damaged print compared to thumbs or index. If it's good after the specific time frame then you know for sure that your fingers is the issue. I have no proof of anything I'm saying but I do know that the pinky seems to be the good print pattern everytime.
 
I don't think Touch ID is terrible.

But I must say it's highly overrated which is very typical of Apple Hype.

It has its place and seems to work well most of the time, yet beyond that it's only one of many elements that make iPhone 6 a good phone.

I don't find it overrated at all. I actually think it embodies Apple at its best. Take a feature that had been poorly implemented by others, and make it simple and work well enough for average consumers to use without hesitation.

I've had laptops for work with biometric sensors for years, and those swipe readers are horrible. They work less than half the time, and are slow and awkward to use. That kind of garbage is nice for padding a feature checklist, but a horrible user experience.

Tim Cook said that less than half of all smartphone users use any sort of passcode or similar security for their phones. Compare this with over 80% of Touch ID devices enabling the feature. What good are security features, if less than half of users actually turn them on? Touch ID is convenient enough for the vast majority of iPhone users to secure their phones. This has actually had a ripple effect of decreasing the theft rate for iPhones, as theft rates for other smartphones continue to increase.

In my case, I'm not sure if I would have secured my phone if not for Touch ID. This is because I have my phone docked on my car dash, and I use it for music. If I had to enter a passcode to access the controls, no way would I have wanted to do this while driving -- way too distracting. With Touch ID, I can wake up the phone without taking my eyes off the road.
 
Last edited:
These are reasons I said in an Apple Pay thread that it won't be the speedy register line to check out that everyone assumes. They'rll be periodic lags while buyers try time and again to do the purchase.
 
These are reasons I said in an Apple Pay thread that it won't be the speedy register line to check out that everyone assumes. They'rll be periodic lags while buyers try time and again to do the purchase.

What reasons? TouchID now works at near 100% for the vast majority of us on the iPhone 6/6+ and for the selected few individuals whose fingerprints are simply not receptive to TouchID for whatever reasons (too many years of working with the hands, etc.), Apple Pay can be authorized with a passcode.

Just because the OP is experiencing a hardware failure with TouchID (or possibly has a microscopic gunk on the sensor that he has yet to clean off) is not a valid reason.
 
Touch ID is terrible on both the 6 and 6 Plus, especially with iOS 8 crippling both devices. Mark my words now, I bet Apple discontinues both the 6/6+ when the 6S series is released later this year. They're just awful phones.

I had a hamburger one time, and it was awful. Therefore, all hamburgers are awful.

I mean, if we're just going to be selective and anecdotal...
 
Mine works perfectly on my iPhone 6.

The other day I sat behind a lady (55 years old or so) with an iPhone 6 who was using a 4 digit passcode to unlock her phone, rather than Touch ID. That was painful. "Don't you know you have Touch ID?!" (Is what I was screaming to myself in my own head)

----------



Video or I don't believe you.

Working on it :)
 
I have no problems with TouchID, but I set my prints up a bit differently than most people seem to. Rather than lifting my finger up and placing it back down with only minor shifts each time, I intentionally shift my finger around by a fair bit so that almost the entire surface of my finger (including the tip but excluding the upper surface and nail) has been scanned by the sensor. Family members who used to have issues with TouchID no longer have problems after I had them scan their fingers similar to how I did, so I assume it isn't just that my fingers are extremely TouchID-friendly. I'd suggest doing that if your problems persist.

...cheers for this tip - will definitely try it if my issue persists.

I have actually deleted all the previous 5 thumb prints and have just re-scanned only one print, to see if it makes any difference. If not, will follow your above advice.
 
Prepare to get "corrected". Mine does not work well enough in my opinion so I do not use it but some here can not stand to hear such a thing.

I don't know about "correction" but mine works flawlessly. Registers every single damn time.
 
No problems at all on my devices (6, 6 Plus, Air 2). Only problem I seem to have is that when you're fingers are somewhat wet, it doesn't work so well. Also some times I get problems when charging my iPhone with a non genuine (but certified) charging cable.
 
That does not help the one who it does not work for. I have tried multiple devices and the same result. Just not worth it for me and it looks like for many others.

But how it works perfectly for one person, and not working completely for another? That doesn't sound logical. It doesn't like I exchanged the phone until I got the good unit or anything. I just bought it. And it works, as advertised.
And all reviews I read said it works extremely well too.

Are you sure you set it up correctly?
 
Last edited:
That does not help the one who it does not work for. I have tried multiple devices and the same result. Just not worth it for me and it looks like for many others.
Do you maybe have sweaty fingers? :) sometimes this happens to me and prevents touchid from correctly working...
 
But how it works perfectly for one person, and not working completely for another? That doesn't sound logical. It doesn't like I exchanged the phone until I got the good unit or anything. I just bought it. And it works, as advertised.

Are you sure you set it up correctly?

Do you maybe have sweaty fingers? :) sometimes this happens to me and prevents touchid from correctly working...

I went through all this cr^p months ago and have exchanged my phone. Just does not work dependably for me. You enjoy, I can live just fine without this function. If you read, I am not the only one having problems.

I can't help to laugh at people whop say that touch ID has NEVER failed, not even once. Humans so protective sometimes.
 
Last edited:
What reasons? TouchID now works at near 100% for the vast majority of us on the iPhone 6/6+ and for the selected few individuals whose fingerprints are simply not receptive to TouchID for whatever reasons (too many years of working with the hands, etc.), Apple Pay can be authorized with a passcode.

Just because the OP is experiencing a hardware failure with TouchID (or possibly has a microscopic gunk on the sensor that he has yet to clean off) is not a valid reason.


check it out:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1845742/
 
But how it works perfectly for one person, and not working completely for another? That doesn't sound logical. It doesn't like I exchanged the phone until I got the good unit or anything. I just bought it. And it works, as advertised.
And all reviews I read said it works extremely well too.

Are you sure you set it up correctly?

Everyone finger print is different (duh). Some people eat hamburgers, some don't. If you have trouble, check to see if you leave good finger prints.
 
I can't help to laugh at people whop say that touch ID has NEVER failed, not even once. Humans so protective sometimes.

You can laugh as much as you want, still, Touch ID never failed on my iPhone 6 since my boss bought it for me (last November week). ;)
 
....actually - yep perhaps you're correct! I will delete all the prints and then just re-scan the one thumb print! Never thought of that! :eek:

I just (wrongly?) assumed that the more prints you give it, from the same finger, the more accurate it would be at recognizing that finger but perhaps, as Arran mentioned above, I have just confused the software with 5 prints from the same finger!!!
Just curious, did this solve things for you?

If you haven't reset your Touch ID yet, I highly suggest following Ledgem's suggestions for set up (post 17). That's the same way I do it for myself and family members and that's what the instructions during set up say, too. I've been using Touch ID since the 5s and pretty much the only time Touch ID doesn't work for me is when I've just washed my hands.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.