Why would Touch ID disappear?

[T Coma]

I've had my M1 16" MBP for about a month, and activating Touch ID was part of the set up process. I haven't gotten the prompt recently; it's only been the "enter your password" option for everything. I checked in Preferences and there weren't any fingerprints saved.

Should this be a concern, or just one of those inexplicable hiccups? I've added back my fingerprint, but of course now I'm wondering about possible security issues.

FWIW, no one else has touched this computer, and it has yet to leave the house.

EDIT: I checked the Apple ID button and see only one of our TVs listed. I'll assume this has something to do with the Apple TV app; I've just never seen it before. Is it possible to backdoor into my "network" via a less secure TV? /tinfoilhat

 

[jav6454]

For system events, for me at least, my Mac always requests the password over TouchID verification. I have used TouchID, but mainly for purchases.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Anyway to stop using a password when booting up and just use my finger?

 

[kasakka]

I recently had some weird corruption with keychain and had to reset my keychains and import the existing one. Fingerprints went bye bye in the process and had to be added again. MacOS 12.5.

So check the TouchID in settings and if it has ditched your fingerprints just add them again.

 

[T Coma]

I recently had some weird corruption with keychain and had to reset my keychains and import the existing one. Fingerprints went bye bye in the process and had to be added again. MacOS 12.5.

So check the TouchID in settings and if it has ditched your fingerprints just add them again.

Yes I think that’s what happened, as I noticed some, but not all, of my keychain passwords disappeared too.

 

[VivienM]

Anyway to stop using a password when booting up and just use my finger?

I think they do the same thing as on the iOS devices where the secure enclave or something is encrypted using your password, so you need to log in with the password at first boot in order to open access to the biometric data that is subsequently used for Touch/Face ID.

 

[jav6454]

Yes I think that’s what happened, as I noticed some, but not all, of my keychain passwords disappeared too.

That's odd behavior.