Touch ID on New Mac Book Air with M1 Chip

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Level 1

17 points

Touch ID on New Mac Book Air with M1 Chip

I am disappointed to report that after just two weeks, the Touch ID on my new Mac Book Air has stopped working. I've tried re-adding my fingerprint a few times, doing an NVRAM reset, unchecking and re-checking the boxes in System Preferences/ Touch ID and restarting several times. I have not yet called Apple Support because on past iPhones with Touch ID I had similar issues.

I've concluded that Touch ID on Apple products does not work, or at least perhaps it works for a certain demographic and not for others. On the other hand, Face ID on the iPhone has been flawless. Why would Apple not have used the newer Face ID technology on these latest and most powerful Mac's? Everything else about this laptop is exceptional, but Touch ID- a monumental failure!

If anyone else has experienced this on the latest Mac's and have a solution for this, you help would be appreciated. From what I have read so far, Apple themselves really offer no solution. Thank you.

Posted on Dec 30, 2020 3:25 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

woodmeister50

Level 7

21,063 points

Dec 30, 2020 4:11 AM in response to artbx

Create a different user account on your Mac and log into it and see

if the same thing happens. It could be that something in your user

account is messed up which sometimes happens.

Also, try booting into "safe mode" as well and see what happens:

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

This will tend to clean out any accumulated system "junk"

as well as turn off any 3rd party products.

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Answer 2

Branta_uk

Level 7

32,892 points

Dec 30, 2020 5:54 AM in response to artbx

I am one of your demographic who can have problems with TouchID. Depending on my working conditions my hands may be any or all of dirty, abraded, cold, wet... and TouchID becomes less reliable. So, I have some experience of problem solving.

Enrol more than 1 finger to increase your chances of successful recognition.
Understand the problem is not always the sensor, it might be the finger presented.
Use Apple Diagnostics to check the hardware is performing correctly. Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support
If you can't get it working your MacBook is new and in warranty, use your entitlement to support.

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Answer 3

Branta_uk

Level 7

32,892 points

Dec 30, 2020 6:03 AM in response to artbx

I just found another possible solution which is worth a look. See thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252229641 and the picture linked in the 4th post, although I can't reproduce the problem and my Fast Switch is disabled when I check settings.

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Touch ID on New Mac Book Air with M1 Chip

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