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Nobody says you have to limit yourself to just using your fingerprints.

If your hands are getting rough and calloused, set it up to use the tip of your nose.

As an added bonus, you can even use it when it's cold out and you're wearing gloves.

Down side- you have to hold your phone up to your face to unlock it... likely looking ridiculous in the process.
hahaha. You ought to see my coworkers look at me when we lock the doors at night. "what the hell are you doing?" "Typing?!?!" Face typing for the win.

Apple really should have considered all of these issues...Maybe they can turn down the security some on the scanner?

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Cuz it's keeping a lot of owners out of their own phones. It IS apples fault for HOW they scan and HOW they decide to reject.

Come on! How many people are going to get my phone and match my prints?!

It did work great and I bought it. Next day, didn't work at all.

Apple gave me another phone saying hardware failure. This one also stopped working.

Apple says hardware failure again. Whose fault is it?

What happened to the whole experience thing? They need to turn the sensitivity down. The odds of someone stealing my phone AND having prints nearly the same are near impossible.
I had a very mean reply, but I'll cut it out and leave it short. I don't like you, or your way of life. It's wrong.
 
Well my iPhone has been replaced today! The sensor was faulty. Genius said there seems to be a large batch of faulty sensors (damaged cable).

Touch id now works flawlessly!
 
Given that apple advertised the sensor scans the dermal layers I think there is an issue.

Correct, if it's really an RF type sensor then surface wear should not matter.

Other scanner types (DC, optical) often fail with bricklayers and people who handle a lot of paper during the day, as those will rub down the dead fingerprint surface that those sensors read. Chemotherapy and some diseases can also make fingerprints disappear.

However, an RF sensor reads a signal from the living fingerprint foundation BELOW the dead surface, and therefore in theory should not be affected by surface destruction.

The other issue to watch out for is smudges or oils on the home button. I'm not a construction worker but I find touch ID fails on me if there are too many smudges on it.

Smudges are also not supposed to affect RF sensors.

Hmm. I wonder if the problem is more related to getting the signal from the ring in the first place.
 
Correct, if it's really an RF type sensor then surface wear should not matter.

Other scanner types often fail with bricklayers and people who handle a lot of paper during the day, as those will rub down the dead fingerprint surface. Chemotherapy and some diseases can also make fingerprints disappear.

However, an RF sensor reads a signal from the living fingerprint foundation BELOW the dead surface, and therefore in theory should not be affected by surface destruction.



Smudges are also not supposed to affect RF sensors.

Hmm. I wonder if the problem is more related to getting the signal from the ring in the first place.


I posted earlier in the thread my coworkers Touch ID didn't work and we chalked it up to his hands getting beat up.

I quoted your post in an email and he made a genius appointment.

Thanks for the post.
 
Nobody says you have to limit yourself to just using your fingerprints.

If your hands are getting rough and calloused, set it up to use the tip of your nose.

As an added bonus, you can even use it when it's cold out and you're wearing gloves.

Down side- you have to hold your phone up to your face to unlock it... likely looking ridiculous in the process.

Even better, why not use a toeprint? ;)
 
Correct, if it's really an RF type sensor then surface wear should not matter.

Other scanner types (DC, optical) often fail with bricklayers and people who handle a lot of paper during the day, as those will rub down the dead fingerprint surface that those sensors read. Chemotherapy and some diseases can also make fingerprints disappear.

However, an RF sensor reads a signal from the living fingerprint foundation BELOW the dead surface, and therefore in theory should not be affected by surface destruction.



Smudges are also not supposed to affect RF sensors.

Hmm. I wonder if the problem is more related to getting the signal from the ring in the first place.

Maybe some of the trolls should read this post again.

I also was lead to believe this is how it was supposed to work. If it is, then Apple is CLEARLY to blame.

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Well my iPhone has been replaced today! The sensor was faulty. Genius said there seems to be a large batch of faulty sensors (damaged cable).

Touch id now works flawlessly!

How are your fingers? Peeling? Dry?
 
Maybe some of the trolls should read this post again.

I also was lead to believe this is how it was supposed to work. If it is, then Apple is CLEARLY to blame.

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How are your fingers? Peeling? Dry?

My fingers are fine
 
I also was lead to believe this is how it was supposed to work. If it is, then Apple is CLEARLY to blame.

Or AuthenTec's hardware or code. Or it's not exactly an RF sensor.

Or there's something else going on, like the finger's surface depth is constantly changing and the shorter distance is causing the signal to not match.

Or maybe in construction the cable gets jarred loose.

For a nice overview of an RF sensor, download and read this PowerPoint:

http://www.zvetcobiometrics.com/Documents/Trueprinttechnology.ppt

Note that RF has trouble with a wet finger, as the signal from the ring travels directly across the surface as well as behind through the dermis, and the reception phase difference messes up recognition.
 
My fp sensor has been great, I really love it as a piece of useful technology. Well we just bought a new house and on the evenings and weekends I'm gutting it and redoing everything (I hate watching TV and need something to do). Needless to say my hands are pretty calloused now after doing this for a couple of weeks. Now I can't get my FP to recognize my finger, even after redoing the setup process repeatedly. Sometimes it catches it, but I'd say it fails 90% of the time.

Anyone else? Any suggestions? I guess it will go back to normal after I'm doin tearing up my hands, but it is definitely annoying.

uhm:
1. use standard password/disable fingerprint
2. get a new phone
3. get a new job.. bwuahaha

LOL
 
This is just a limitation of the technology. Several years ago I worked for a company which uses hand scanners for their time clocks. We enrolled my handprint and I clocked in for the first day of work. Well, as a newbie I got injured (a stupid, but relatively painless injury). I had to re-enroll my whole handprint because it would no longer scan with the bandage blocking one of my fingers. Then I had to re-enroll a third time a few days later when the hand was all healed.
 
I have issues similar to OP with my thumbprint. Here's what I did, and what I recommend:

After entering your initial thumbprint, whenever the sensor stops working for you, re-enter your thumbprint but add it as though it were a different finger, while keeping the old one. Do this until you have 3 or 4 entries of the same thumb but in various states of "duress". Now you have a much better chance of a match.

YMMV, void where prohibited, etc etc.
 
They did consider this, that's why you can just type in your password to unlock if it can't read your fingerprints.

Give it a rest already. Case in point is that the darn thing works for a few hours, then never again. Google it. You people act like its 5 of us complaining.
 
It did work great and I bought it. Next day, didn't work at all.

Apple gave me another phone saying hardware failure. This one also stopped working.

Apple says hardware failure again. Whose fault is it?

What happened to the whole experience thing? They need to turn the sensitivity down. The odds of someone stealing my phone AND having prints nearly the same are near impossible.

First time maybe. Second time, doubtful. Third time, not hardware.
 
First time maybe. Second time, doubtful. Third time, not hardware.

Exactly. Just because some of us don't have female hand model hands doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to use TouchID.

I'm guessing Apple could adjust their software to fix this for us.

Looking at my fingers, yes I see some wear on them but my prints are very much there. TouchID shouldn't be looking at the current image of my thumb pad, it should be looking at the PRINTS.
 
Give it a rest already. Case in point is that the darn thing works for a few hours, then never again. Google it. You people act like its 5 of us complaining.

I have a 5S. Anytime it doesn't work first time I wipe it or my finger and it works. Only setup the scans once, thumb and index of both hands, never had any issues and I us it a LOT (20 + hrs of calling a month + web and app use etc)
 
Exactly. Just because some of us don't have female hand model hands doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to use TouchID.

I'm guessing Apple could adjust their software to fix this for us.

Looking at my fingers, yes I see some wear on them but my prints are very much there. TouchID shouldn't be looking at the current image of my thumb pad, it should be looking at the PRINTS.

Post a picture of your fingers. That should answer a few questions.
 
Post a picture of your fingers. That should answer a few questions.

The condition of my fingers would be opinion more than anything.

An interesting test would be to compare the conductivity of our fingers when touch ID works and when it doesn't.

I believe if touch ID uses RF, higher conductivity might affect it.

Who here has a good DMM?
 
The condition of my fingers would be opinion more than anything.



An interesting test would be to compare the conductivity of our fingers when touch ID works and when it doesn't.



I believe if touch ID uses RF, higher conductivity might affect it.



Who here has a good DMM?


Waaaay to many variables to test with a DMM. Moisture and pressure applied alone is the difference between thousands and millions of ohms when measuring continuity.

Plus what are we measuring between? Two points on the pad of the thumb? Through the thumb?
 
Waaaay to many variables to test with a DMM. Moisture and pressure applied alone is the difference between thousands and millions of ohms when measuring continuity.

Plus what are we measuring between? Two points on the pad of the thumb? Through the thumb?

We could measure from one side of pad to the other. Might give a hint.

We could assume we all touch with average pressure.
 
The condition of my fingers would be opinion more than anything.

An interesting test would be to compare the conductivity of our fingers when touch ID works and when it doesn't.

I believe if touch ID uses RF, higher conductivity might affect it.

Who here has a good DMM?

Dude, post a pic man. Let us decide since you keep talking about it.
 
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