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Touch ID sucks

A

andymac2210

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 18, 2011
228
0
I'd say it works about half of the time.

Set it up for both of my thumbs and every time I press the home button it seems to unlock my phone about half the time. It's literally 50/50 'try again' and successful unlocking.

I've tried re-doing the setup for it about 10 times now, doing exactly what it says on the screen and I just can't make it work properly.

My hands are not greasy, my 5s is perfectly clean and still it doesn't really 'just work' the way you'd expect it to. You seem to have to do it at the right angle every time if you want it to actually work properly, align your finger 20* to the left or right and it'll just say 'try again'.
 
It works about 95% of the time for me. I love it. Works great. I have it set up for both thumb and index fingers. Nicely done Apple. :apple:
 
andymac2210 said:
I'd say it works about half of the time.

Set it up for both of my thumbs and every time I press the home button it seems to unlock my phone about half the time. It's literally 50/50 'try again' and successful unlocking.

I've tried re-doing the setup for it about 10 times now, doing exactly what it says on the screen and I just can't make it work properly.

My hands are not greasy, my 5s is perfectly clean and still it doesn't really 'just work' the way you'd expect it to. You seem to have to do it at the right angle every time if you want it to actually work properly, align your finger 20* to the left or right and it'll just say 'try again'.
Click to expand...

Except for the fact that it has 360 degree readability. You can put it on their upside down and it will read it.

If I were you instead of saying it sucks I would take it to a genius and see if it is faulty.
 
andymac2210 said:
I'd say it works about half of the time.

Set it up for both of my thumbs and every time I press the home button it seems to unlock my phone about half the time. It's literally 50/50 'try again' and successful unlocking.

I've tried re-doing the setup for it about 10 times now, doing exactly what it says on the screen and I just can't make it work properly.

My hands are not greasy, my 5s is perfectly clean and still it doesn't really 'just work' the way you'd expect it to. You seem to have to do it at the right angle every time if you want it to actually work properly, align your finger 20* to the left or right and it'll just say 'try again'.
Click to expand...

You need to do the set up again, I can literally turn the phone 180° and use it upside down and it still unlocks for me.
 
Stop re-doing the setup. Each time you do that you are re-setting its learning curve. Once you've set it up use it as normal, including trying multiple times until it works. If it rejects your fingerprint, but then accepts it again in short proximity, it 'learns' from the rejected print.
 
Are you sure you are doing it correctly?

You have to click and keep the finger while you lift the button.
If you stop touching it, it fails.

Does it work better if you first use sleep/wake at the top to get to the lock screen and then use your thumb?
 
pmau said:
Are you sure you are doing it correctly?

You have to click and keep the finger while you lift the button.
If you stop touching it, it fails.

Does it work better if you first use sleep/wake at the top to get to the lock screen and then use your thumb?
Click to expand...

I click the home button and leave my finger there.

It seems to only be able to work with a small part if your finger, if you don't use the very tip it says 'try again', even if you set it up to scan that part of your thumb.

Maybe I was being a little over zealous when I said it worked 50% if the time, but it's less than 70% for me unless I take extra care to make sure I hold it right.
 
andymac2210 said:
I click the home button and leave my finger there.

It seems to only be able to work with a small part if your finger, if you don't use the very tip it says 'try again', even if you set it up to scan that part of your thumb.

Maybe I was being a little over zealous when I said it worked 50% if the time, but it's less than 70% for me unless I take extra care to make sure I hold it right.
Click to expand...

Something is wrong I think. As people above have said it's pretty responsive and versatile. My thumb works from all sorts of angles and sometimes when I feel it shouldn't work it does. Like when I didn't touch it quite right, etc.
 
andymac2210 said:
I'd say it works about half of the time.

Set it up for both of my thumbs and every time I press the home button it seems to unlock my phone about half the time. It's literally 50/50 'try again' and successful unlocking.

I've tried re-doing the setup for it about 10 times now, doing exactly what it says on the screen and I just can't make it work properly.

My hands are not greasy, my 5s is perfectly clean and still it doesn't really 'just work' the way you'd expect it to. You seem to have to do it at the right angle every time if you want it to actually work properly, align your finger 20* to the left or right and it'll just say 'try again'.
Click to expand...

That's weird. For most everyone who has a 5s, myself included, Touch ID seems to work perfectly. Strange.
 
Perhaps you should return it and try a new one. Mine has worked first time every time since delivery on Saturday. Previously I had to have a company mandated 8 digit pass code. Touchid is so much easier. Love it

Josh
 
Others that have had this similar issue with their finger prints save the same finger as multiple finger spots in order to make it work. Maybe you could try setting up the finger you are trying to use the most as two different spots and make sure to really let it learn all the sides and tip of your finger, etc.

I haven't had my fail once yet.
 
works!

The one time it didn't work I didn't leave my finger on there long enough (meaning I clicked the home button and then moved it off. Otherwise it works flawlessly!

Its quite nice, I don't miss entering my stupid 4 digit pin AT ALL!
 
pmau said:
Are you sure you are doing it correctly?

You have to click and keep the finger while you lift the button.
If you stop touching it, it fails.
Click to expand...

You don't, I often click and lift my finger (subconsciously to go to the number pad to input the code) and then remembering the print reader putting my thumb back down and it still reads and unlocks perfectly.
 
zhenya said:
Stop re-doing the setup. Each time you do that you are re-setting its learning curve. Once you've set it up use it as normal, including trying multiple times until it works. If it rejects your fingerprint, but then accepts it again in short proximity, it 'learns' from the rejected print.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't. If it rejects the print, it's because it thinks its not the print of the person who the phone is set up for, and it's instead someone elses. It doesn't save that rejected attempt and compare it again later and "learn" anything. How do you expect the phone to know if a rejected print is really you vs some stranger? It can learn from a successful attempt and make adjustments as needed, but it cannot learn from a failed attempt.

More than likely, the OP has a faulty unit and needs to exchange it.
 
maybe he's a tradesman and warn his fingers out?

My pretty princess fingers work flawlessly.
 
kmichalec said:
No it doesn't. If it rejects the print, it's because it thinks its not the print of the person who the phone is set up for, and it's instead someone elses. It doesn't save that rejected attempt and compare it again later and "learn" anything. How do you expect the phone to know if a rejected print is really you vs some stranger? It can learn from a successful attempt and make adjustments as needed, but it cannot learn from a failed attempt.

More than likely, the OP has a faulty unit and needs to exchange it.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll trust Anand before I'll trust you.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review/8

The training process is pretty simple. Just pick up and place your finger on the Touch ID sensor a few times while it maps out your fingerprint. After you complete that step, do it again but focus on the edges of your finger instead. The surface area of the Touch ID sensor is pretty small by comparison to most fingers, so the more data you can give the sensor the better. Don’t worry about giving Touch ID a perfect map of your fingers on the first try. Touch ID is designed to adapt over time. Whenever an unlock attempt fails and is followed by a successful attempt, the 5s will compare the print map from the failed attempt and if it determines that both attempts were made with the same finger it will expand the match database for that finger. Indeed I tested and verified this was working. I deliberately picked a weird angle and part of my thumb to unlock the 5s, which was immediately rejected. I then followed it up with a known good placement and was successful. I then repeated the weird attempt from before and had it immediately succeed.
Click to expand...
 
This is futuristic stuff! :p Yeah I suggest going to the Genius Bar if the low rate of recognition keeps up.
 
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