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Touch ID on iPhone 6 is superduper fast

airlied

airlied

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 8, 2011
382
59
My last iPhone was iPhone 5 so I'm new to Touch ID. I've heard a LOT bad news about Touch ID from news sites, youtube and even my friends. But when I first tried I was blown away.

It's super fast and accurate. I scanned 4 fingers (two thumbs and two indexes) without any problems. The unlock speed is even faster than "slide to unlock" way. I guess it's because When I press the home button the sensor already started to scan my fingerprint and I can't even see the lock screen clearly before it disappears.

And because I registered my finger from many angles including the flat angle and common used slope angles. No matter how I press the home button it always recognised my fingerprints. I've done a test and figured out that it only takes about 0.3 seconds to recognise, sometimes you feel it's slow is because the UI lags.

I'm really impressed with new Touch ID on iPhone 6. I only got this phone for about a week so I can't tell if the sensitivity drops from time to time. But we will see.
 
Last edited:
Nice to hear.
How much time have you spent sitting there - locking and unlocking your phone?
 
See, that's weird, b/c for me (coming from iPhone 5), it is a little slower than I expected. Mine usually takes 1-1.5 seconds. I never get an error, and it always registers, but it's almost always a little more than 1 second.
 
Can someone who had the iphine 5s and the iphone 6/6plus, comment on the speed difference if any between unlocking the phone with Touch ID ?

Thanks in advance.

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As in same speed/makes no difference/slight improvement/huge improvement?
 
not here. slow, and usually doesn't work. i think for some people it doesn't work that well. i've managed to register one finger that works most of the time. all the others have stopped working after a few minutes. i think it's me and not the phone. seemed to work ok for other members of my family. not lightning fast but worked.
 
what i read on another thread that really helped me was this...

since i was a touch id newb, i would click to wake, then remove my finger and retouch. would only take a few milliseconds but it didnt seem any faster than using a code. now, i found out that you click to wake and leave your finger there... and BAM! instant unlock. i love touch id now. :):D
 
willmtaylor said:
See, that's weird, b/c for me (coming from iPhone 5), it is a little slower than I expected. Mine usually takes 1-1.5 seconds. I never get an error, and it always registers, but it's almost always a little more than 1 second.
Click to expand...

Try this: press sleep/wake button to wake the screen but don't unlock it yet. Then swipe it to passcode panel; then put you finger on sensor about 0.3-0.5 sec to see if the screen fulfils the passcode for you. If it does, the 1 second issue is due to UI lags. If it do need more than one second to fulfil the passcode, your Touch ID is slower than mine.
 
airlied said:
Try this: press sleep/wake button to wake the screen but don't unlock it yet. Then swipe it to passcode panel; then put you finger on sensor about 0.3-0.5 sec to see if the screen fulfils the passcode for you. If it does, the 1 second issue is due to UI lags. If it do need more than one second to fulfil the passcode, your Touch ID is slower than mine.
Click to expand...

Yup, mine is slower. Woke, swiped, then pressed. Still took 1-2 seconds to register, "fill passcode" and unlock device.

No biggie, but a little odd.
 
I went from a 5 to a 6 Plus so this is my first phone with Touch ID. I always thought it seemed kind of gimmicky and questioned how well it actually worked. I've had my phone for a couple weeks now and Touch ID has worked every time and it opens quickly. It took me a day or two to figure out you don't have to actually push the home button to get it to read your print. :p I love the huge screen but Touch ID is almost my favorite feature on this phone.

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teabonesteak said:
what i read on another thread that really helped me was this...

since i was a touch id newb, i would click to wake, then remove my finger and retouch. would only take a few milliseconds but it didnt seem any faster than using a code. now, i found out that you click to wake and leave your finger there... and BAM! instant unlock. i love touch id now. :):D
Click to expand...

Whoa, did not know that, now I love it even more, thanks!
 
I went from a 5S to a 6, and I don't notice any speed increase. I was hoping it would be a tad faster based on reviews that I read, but no difference in my opinion. I will say that the fail rate is a little better.
 
kilcher said:
Whoa, did not know that, now I love it even more, thanks!
Click to expand...

yeah, i love it. it seems to unlock at the same time the screen comes out of sleep so it even before the lockscreen wallpaper is fully up, it's already unlocked. awesome. :D
 
The iPhone 6 is my first experience with Touch ID as well. I was surprised by how easy it was to set it up. I've two thumb prints- my left thumb (I use my phone lefty although I'm a right handed person) and the index finger on my right hand- registered and after the initial setup, everything works flawlessly.

The speed depends largely the placement of my thumb/finger and how wet/dry they are. About 70% it's extremely fast with almost no lag between putting my finger on the Touch ID and authentication. When I say fast, it's less than 0.5s' even perhaps 0.25'. When I placed just the outside perimeter of prints to be read, it takes a bit longer. The same if I've just washed and dried my hands or just finished applying hand moisturizer. Even then it's just slightly more than 1s'.
 
Yes, actually Touch ID so far has been fantastic. I'm coming from a 5 myself and certainly don't miss typing in the passcode all the time. It seems quite fast under most circumstances. Just tap the home button and leave your thumb there for a sec and you're in. So much better (at least from what I've heard/seen) than the fingerprint readers for other phones that make you swipe your thumb over the sensor or some nonsense.
 
I had the 5S and now 6+. I would say that it seems to unlock at the same speed as my 5S but my 5S would fail more frequently. It didn't happen often but I would just say more often than my new 6+
 
I had errors sometimes using the palm print reader at the nuclear plant I used to work at. My 6 is pretty fast and responsive. Click the button - leave thumb on reader - done!
 
TouchID is probably the most underrated piece of tech on the 6.

I couldn't have a phone without it now (since the 5S) and the 6 feels more accurate, the button feels better, and it seems faster too.

I used to only run into issues with angles of my finger, but now no matter what it picks up the print. It's like they optimized the hardware somehow, because I can still get my old 5S to fail if I try, but not my 6.

Now if I could just convince the wife to use hers... A full year with the 5S and I think I used her scanner more than she did LOL
 
Yeah I also came from a 5 and touch ID was new to me. Out of habit I still swipe the lock screen every time, need to learn that's not necessary anymore #

Too bad it only recognizes 1 finger, which makes sense but I never gave much thought to it before. I always assumed you could use any finger to unlock. I have it set to both my thumbs just for convenience.
 
Badrottie said:
I wonder how Samsung people feel about this? And how good is fingerprint sensor on Galaxy S5? :apple:
Click to expand...

In my experience it's horrible. You have to swipe your finger down from the display over the home button to scan, but most of the time it doesn't work. It's quite frustrating actually.

Touch id is a much less frustrating experience for sure.
 
sillywabbit said:
Can someone who had the iphine 5s and the iphone 6/6plus, comment on the speed difference if any between unlocking the phone with Touch ID ?

Thanks in advance.

----------

As in same speed/makes no difference/slight improvement/huge improvement?
Click to expand...

Although I never had issues with my 5s touchID, the 6 plus is definitely better improved and smoother than my 5s.

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Cloudsurfer said:
Yeah I also came from a 5 and touch ID was new to me. Out of habit I still swipe the lock screen every time, need to learn that's not necessary anymore #

Too bad it only recognizes 1 finger, which makes sense but I never gave much thought to it before. I always assumed you could use any finger to unlock. I have it set to both my thumbs just for convenience.
Click to expand...

Uh u don't have to use only 1 finger. U can set it up with multiple fingers. And of course it only works with the fingers u set it up with.
 
teabonesteak said:
what i read on another thread that really helped me was this...

since i was a touch id newb, i would click to wake, then remove my finger and retouch. would only take a few milliseconds but it didnt seem any faster than using a code. now, i found out that you click to wake and leave your finger there... and BAM! instant unlock. i love touch id now. :):D
Click to expand...
Thanks for this tip! Now this is fast. I felt Touch ID was slow the way I used it befor
 
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