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Touch ID sucks

I was actually a bit concerned when I saw some threads about the finicky nature of the TouchID, but when I got mine today, all that went away. It worked flawlessly. I don't even have time to actually "prepare" my thumb like I thought I would have to. I just press it to wake it up, then bam, it's unlocked not even a day later. It just works like that.
 
It has only failed me twice since launch day. Both times were after washing my hands. No big.
 
Zews said:
I have the same experience as the original poster. Touch ID does not work at all as advertised on my phone. After setting it up for a couple of fingers I use most to open my phone it will work for half a day or so, and then slowly the phone "unlearns" my fingerprints, until they don't work at all anymore.

So the statement that some people make that the Touch ID gets better as it learns my fingerprints is exactly the opposite for me. The phone forgets my fingerprints.

It is so bad, that I have completely disabled Touch ID on my phone. I am pissed, because this feature was the one and only reason I upgraded my phone form the 4S.
Click to expand...

Same thing happening to me. Its useless.
 
Touch ID sucks

Have to agree with people that say it works. Got my 64gb space grey on the very first day at the Apple store.

Have had no problems at all with the Touch ID. I have never had it actually fail. Sometimes it may take a second try but it has always read my prints..

Like many others I set mine up as a brand new phone instead of restoring from a backup from my old 4s.
 
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great for me to. Only time where I may have to try a couple of times is after a shower or washing dishes/hands etc.
 
I am sorry but the people that can't figure out touch ID have to be slow, no offense.

Mine works flawlessly. 5 fingers all work, every time, never fails. Literally has NEVER failed. Even after washing hands. Seriously, there can't be this many defective units, I really think it's the operators fault. Either when you're registering your finger you're not moving your finger enough (even when it says success) or you're simply not placing your finger correctly ON the scanner. I don't know. Either way, I cannot believe some people are having these issues.
 
Zews said:
I have the same experience as the original poster. Touch ID does not work at all as advertised on my phone. After setting it up for a couple of fingers I use most to open my phone it will work for half a day or so, and then slowly the phone "unlearns" my fingerprints, until they don't work at all anymore.

So the statement that some people make that the Touch ID gets better as it learns my fingerprints is exactly the opposite for me. The phone forgets my fingerprints.

It is so bad, that I have completely disabled Touch ID on my phone. I am pissed, because this feature was the one and only reason I upgraded my phone form the 4S.
Click to expand...

This is my experience, but I think it's because I have dry skin, and the skin on the tips of my thumbs tend to develop tiny little cracks when the air is dry (it's fall) that must be throwing off the sensor. If I use the part of my thumb where the skin hasn't cracked, Touch ID works fine. Unfortunate, because it is a cool feature, but I can hardly blame Apple.
 
Eureka!

zhenya said:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5883
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Thank you zhenya, that page provided the answer for me as to what I was doing wrong. This is part of the instructions that cleared it up for me:

"You can use Touch ID to unlock your phone without having to enter your passcode every time. There are two ways you can unlock with Touch ID:

- Press the Home button once to wake iPhone 5s and keep your finger lightly on the Home button.
- Press the Sleep/Wake button once to wake iPhone 5s, and then touch your finger lightly on the Home button."

and the fact that you HAVE TO MAKE CONTACT between the home button and the metal ring around it, which I found on this page: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review/8

"Behind the Touch ID sensor is a similar feeling mechanical switch to what you’d find on the iPhone 5 or 5c. You still get the same click and same resistance. The only physical differences are a lack of the home square printed on the button, and the presence of a steel ring around the button. The steel ring ACTS AS A CONDUCTIVE SENSOR for your finger. Make contact with the steel ring and Touch ID wakes up (presumably when your phone is in a state where Touch ID interactions are expected). Without making contact with the ring, Touch ID won’t work (I confirmed this by trying to unlock the 5s with my pinky and never touching the ring)."

Touch ID is now 100% successful for me. :)
 
thatoneguy82 said:
I was actually a bit concerned when I saw some threads about the finicky nature of the TouchID, but when I got mine today, all that went away. It worked flawlessly. I don't even have time to actually "prepare" my thumb like I thought I would have to. I just press it to wake it up, then bam, it's unlocked not even a day later. It just works like that.
Click to expand...

Same experience i had, and lol whats up bro, i remember chatting with you back during the 4S launch and the time following, same pic minus the no H8 portion i think. I am still hanging on to my "unlimited" data on ATT but about ready to switch over to tmobile. I do love near 70Mbps download speeds but at only 5Gb cap that is useless.
 
BergerFan said:
Touch ID definitely doesn't replace the passcode(as I hoped it would), as I find I still need it a lot.
I guess they're taking initial baby steps with the functionality, before adding more and more later on.
Click to expand...

I'm not understanding your dilemma? Touch ID is working 99/100 tries for both my wife and I...and my younger brother, an elementary school science teacher actually did an entire week presentation and student study on biometrics using his iPhone 5s and two colleague's phones. 100% of the time, it's worked. With different students. Different fingers....they even used a 'big' toe print from the principal.

No issues at all...and it's completely removed the need for any of us to use the pass code anymore. Literally....even for app purchases. The only time I'm needing to enter my Apple ID info is to look at my billing as I was a long time .mac/.me subscriber...September 30th my billing had to be confirmed with the three digit security code.

Other than that, I used to never use a four digit code...too many times accessing the phone throughout the day and literally ZERO sensititive information on it ;)

I'd suggest anyone having issues take it straight to an Apple store or call 1-800-MYAPPLE. As mentioned...with three 'working' models in my immediate family...and his week with three other working models over the course of the week...AND without ANY sort of press talking about it 'not working'....quite the opposite, all reviewer notes I've seen are praising it and its 'success' each and every time.

One thing I've noticed....muscle memory from the iPhone 4S and 5---I tended to 'poke' the home button often. A situation that my thumb wouldn't contact the outer rings. This won't work if you're attempting to access it like that. It definitely will default to password. Took me all of 24 hours to change my habit though

Again...if yours isn't working, it's broken....or you burned your thumbprints off on purpose. Take a look around and recognize the minority complaining of consistent failure. Small minority. They're less than a month old. Apple WILL replace a non working model immediately. Guaranteed. OR, they'll show you how to use it ;)

firstapple said:
It seems like when you haven't purchased apps recently on the app store it requires a passcode. It at least happened once to me so far where the App Store asked for my passcode and would not accept my finger print (wasn't even an option to scan).
Click to expand...

Was it right at the turn to October 1? Were you a mobile me/.mac subscriber with extra storage billed to you? Or was it immediately after one of the two .0x updates? Each situation will require you to authenticate your payment method with Apple ID. Then the fingerprint method works!

Zews said:
I have the same experience as the original poster. Touch ID does not work at all as advertised on my phone. After setting it up for a couple of fingers I use most to open my phone it will work for half a day or so, and then slowly the phone "unlearns" my fingerprints, until they don't work at all anymore.

So the statement that some people make that the Touch ID gets better as it learns my fingerprints is exactly the opposite for me. The phone forgets my fingerprints.

It is so bad, that I have completely disabled Touch ID on my phone. I am pissed, because this feature was the one and only reason I upgraded my phone form the 4S.
Click to expand...

Don't be pissed. Get a new phone immediately. Yours is broken, busted...no good. Apple will take care of ya. It's a working system better than any implemented on a handheld or laptop device to date. Should be very insignificant attempts that don't register and register immediately

Robster3 said:
Same thing happening to me. Its useless.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Do you actually own one? Certainly and quite the opposite of useless. IF you actually own one. It won't work on your Samsung phone yet. Maybe next year though ;)

Robster3 said:
No way:rolleyes:
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Yes. Way. Just look around the web. Not the four people on a board of tens of thousands of active users and 10,000,000 phones sold. If you were right, it would've been front page do the Wall Street Journal, the NY Times and Engadget...as well as Apple's own site.
Yes. Way.

J
 
I've had 5S since launch and Touch ID works great. Like any hand repetition I had to learn how to place my thumb for greater success. After a day I got it. I only use my right thumb. I made all of my print profiles of my right thumb so there are more combinations. I can take the tip if my thumb and the phone opens. I can lay my thumb flush on the home button and it opens. When setting up profiles change your grip each time.For one profile I laid the phone flat in my hand and then did the scanning process. Another grip I used was tilting the phone to the left while I did the scan.
 
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AppleB said:
I've had 5S since launch and Touch ID works great. Like any hand repetition I had to learn how to place my thumb for greater success. After a day I got it. I only use my right thumb. I made all of my print profiles of my right thumb so there are more combinations. I can take the tip if my thumb and the phone opens. I can lay my thumb flush on the home button and it opens. When setting up profiles change your grip each time.For one profile I laid the phone flat in my hand and then did the scanning process. Another grip I used was tilting the phone to the left while I did the scan.
Click to expand...

I like your tip i will give it a go. Thanks.
 
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I find I have to use the fleshy part for consistent results, it doesn't like my fingertips for some reason. Maybe because callouses.
 
I noticed that my 5s would fail about 30% of the time during a recent trip to Hawaii. However, it seems to work close to 100% of the time back home in SoCal - could it be the humidity of Hawaii that caused it to freak out?
 
For me, as the majority of users, it's stereotype Apple "magic".

I didnt have a code-lock before because of the hassle, now my iphone is safe and takes less then swiping. Just amazing.

This said, i do believe that this is the "first gen" of a very well working feature, and it's more than possible that in a minority of cases it just does not work as well as for the rest of us. Not much to do if your finger "is not right" for this hardware i think...i'd just swap to check / return it.
 
Mine also works flawlessy. In the week and a half I've had it, it has failed MAYBE 3 times and I'm constantly on and off of the device.
 
Anyone have the issue where it constantly makes you re-login for app store purchases? If i register my print to authorize purchases, its cool if i do a purchase later in the day, but if i try to purchase something the next day, it will say it needs reauthorized. It is constant.
 
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