Touch ID Not Working after Monterey Installed

Touch ID stopped working. I restarted my iMac (it's the latest M1 iMac) and Touch ID again started to work. After a few hours, it stopped working again.


I assume it is a Monterey software fault.


Anyone else experience this? Is there a fix?


Thanks.

Posted on Oct 29, 2021 3:41 PM

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Posted on Mar 30, 2022 8:54 AM

This happened to me and my system preference for Touch ID even disappeared. Hubby, a Mac user since 1984, had me do the following in this specific order with no apps running (trackpad and keyboard are wireless): (1) turn off keyboard; (2) turn off bluetooth; (3) turn off trackpad; (4) wait at least 5 seconds; (5) turn trackpad on and plug it in; (6) turn bluetooth back on; (7) turn keyboard back on (8) launch system preferences.

This restored my Touch ID system preference and I was able to re-create my IDs and they are working!

46 replies

Feb 22, 2022 12:47 PM in response to LarryLosAngeles

The SMC solution is not applicable for the Macs with M1 chip. It's unbelievable Apple just leaves up on the air with no solution for something "they" broke. My MacBook Pro M1 was working perfectly until Monterrey got installed. I wished I knew better and blocked automatic updates. Why update what's working fine? Now Apple says try this and try, as if we have created the problem and no fault of the OS. I already re0installed the OS completely, wiping the drive and all fresh as it comes in the box, and the problem is still there. It's either Monterrey, or a hardware failure (maybe caused by bad chips "walking wounded" ) that is affecting a lot of people.

Feb 22, 2022 3:38 PM in response to bgmeek

Ok, not to be speculative and offend Apple, I will only say this time I am using a Microsoft mouse to replace the trackpad on the machine and I am giving up using the fingerprint reader. The external mouse on the USB-C port work fine. The Bluetooth Apple mouse is unresponsive exactly the same way as the trackpad, for whatever reason...

Feb 22, 2022 3:44 PM in response to Community User

Yes, someone does monitor this, or it's robot. I will not call Apple. My Mac is already out of warranty and I will just wait until a considerable amount of people are happy with a solution. For now, automatic updates on my machine are blocked.

Mar 11, 2022 1:55 PM in response to ajno60

A miracle has happened. My MacBook Pro is suddenly working again. No updates were made as far as I can see dine they are not enabled in the settings, but as of yesterday, the fingerprint sensor and the trackpad started to work perfectly again. Go figure!

Mar 11, 2022 2:22 PM in response to ajno60

It may be it. It shouldn't but this may be why my machine is working again. I went to battery settings and unchecked the "optimize battery charging" so the battery went from 80% to 100% in about an hour, THEN I noticed the trackpad was working normally, so I tried to setup fingerprint again and it also worked. I won't say tis is it, but it may be it. If that would happen with other people, we know...

Mar 11, 2022 2:33 PM in response to ajno60

But it is a strange thing that Apple would let that happen. Lithium batteries keep Amps capacity and voltage up until they are about 90% depleted. There may be 1 Volt or so drop, but everything should have been designed to still be working with that. So it's a fail, that the battery management allows for battery charge to fluctuate down to 80% or so then start charging again, but certain devices on the machine would stop working. But apparently it's a software, since this did not happen with the previous OS. Hopefully that is not an speculation... It's all a guess as I am an engineer but I don't work for Apple.

Apr 23, 2022 7:45 PM in response to tanthanhnguyen

I have the new MacBook Pro M1, and it had that problem too after upgrading to Monterrey. It started to work again once I went to System Preferences, Battery, and uncheck the box Optimize battery charging. Once the battery is charged over 80%, the Touch ID started working again. But after this, I have not tried to unplug the charger and let the battery go lower than 80% to see if Touch ID will start failing again. Still a work in process to make sure that was the problem, but even if that was the problem, we do want the computer to be able to use its battery down lower than 80% or what's the point having a battery, right?

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Touch ID Not Working after Monterey Installed

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