Magic Keyboard : Touch ID needs a switch off / On to work

Hi there Gilles,

If Touch ID isn't working as expected on your Magic Keyboard, these steps from If Touch ID isn't working on your Mac can help resolve what's happening:

Try these steps

Try using Touch ID after each step:

1. Make sure that you have the latest version of macOS.

2. Make sure that your fingers and the Touch ID sensor are clean and dry.* Use a clean, lint-free cloth to wipe off any dirt or debris on the Touch ID sensor.

3. Your finger should cover the Touch ID sensor completely. While Touch ID is scanning, you shouldn't tap too quickly or move your finger around.

4. Choose Apple menu  > System Settings (or System Preferences), click Users & Groups, then click the lock  to make changes. Click Login Options, then make sure that Automatic login is off.

5. Choose Apple menu  > System Settings (or System Preferences), click Touch ID & Password, then turn on the setting to use Touch ID to unlock your Mac.

6. Try to add a different fingerprint. Choose Apple menu  > System Settings (Or System Preferences), click Touch ID & Password, then click Add Fingerprint.

7. For Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, turn your keyboard off and on, then connect your keyboard to your Mac with the USB to Lightning cable. After you turn Magic Keyboard off then on, Touch ID may be unavailable for up to 10 seconds.

8. Restart your Mac.

If this continues after following those, test the Magic Keyboard with another Mac. That will allow us to isolate whether your MacBook Pro or the keyboard is responsible for this behavior.

Take care!

It’s the keyboard firmware. Was 1.4 on purchase with Touch ID drops, has been working fine, firmware is now 2.x. I think it comes via Apple updates, not the os alone

Hey Gilles,

No worries about testing with another Mac.

Since another Mac isn’t available, we'd like to try to isolate the issue a bit. Please follow the steps below:

1. Disconnect all eternal devices.

2. Forget all Bluetooth devices except for the Magic Keyboard: Connect a Bluetooth device with your Mac - Apple Support

3. Connect your Magic Keyboard with Touch ID to your Mac using your USB to Lightning cable. 

4. Restart your Mac with only the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID connected (and a mouse/trackpad if needed). When you get to the sign-in screen, make sure the keyboard is working as expected before continuing.

5. Leave your Mac wake, connected to the internet and do not use it at all for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Once the 30 minutes have been completed, restart your Mac and see if Touch ID is working.

If you still need to restart your Mac again for Touch ID to work, please contact Apple Support directly: Get Support

All the best.

Perfect! I have the exactly same problem. Working fine before the update. After updated to Ventura Touch ID stop working after 10min - need to turn off and on to work for more 10min. I'm using a MacBook Air M1. I call to Apple we made all the tests, but still not working. In the end they give me a new keyboard... and the problem persist, so this is a software problem, the hardware it's fine (plugged on cable works). At the store they tested my new keyboard with a MacBook Air M2 and was the same thing - stop working after 10min. It's frustrating.

Went to Apple Store yesterday with my MAC Mini M2, Keyboard, and Trackpad, and confirmed the Touch ID is on and off, especially after sleep and wake up, the Touch ID won't work wirelessly. Then after, Got a keyboard replacement.

So far, over night, my new keyboard works.... let's see after a few days.

What version OS are you running right now? I'm also running on a 2021 M1 MacBook Pro as well and after the upgrade to Sonoma 14.x it finally worked for the last few months without having to plug in my keyboard.

I tried again after a couple of months and now it magically works.

1.I first removed the keyboard.

2.I connected the lighting cable to my mac.

3.Paired once again via Bluetooth.

No issues since.

Good luck with the new keyboard!

So I'm testing out 2 other options for other people who are stuck with the keyboard and hate connecting a wireless keyboard to the lightning cable.

1. If your laptop is connected to a power adapter most of the time (i.e. work). Go to Settings > Battery > Options > enable 'Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off'.
2. Use the free Amphetamine app to prevent your Mac from going to sleep. In my case, I will set it to stay awake until 10 pm each day (there's also indefinite option too) . Every morning I'll have to reset the keyboard to wake up the Touch ID, but once a day is more manageable than 10x a day.

Had the same issue. Just bought a new keyboard off Amazon and Touch ID has been working fine for 3 days now.

Will return the one I bought from Apple directly.

Has to be a manufacturing issue.

Right now, I'm relying on keeping my keyboard plugged in. That is the most effective way for me to reliably have Touch ID from this device on my 2021 M1 MacBook Pro.

Hi bailier,

I've had this same issue since I updated to Ventura. Previously the Magic Keyboard Touch ID was working just fine for all purposes. I've seen many threads on this exact subject with no resolution. This is a real bug; it would be great if you could escalate it so a developer can actually look into it and get it fixed in a future version.

The behaviour I see is that Touch ID will work for 10-30 minutes after freshly connecting the keyboard, after that it's as if the sensor doesn't exist and it is completely ignored. Reconnected brings back full functionality for a short while. This is 100% repeatable.

It's very frustrating having to constantly type passwords when the fingerprint sensor I specifically paid for is right there but in a non-working state. As I mentioned, when I purchased this keyboard, it all worked perfectly fine on Monterey and the issue appeared not 10 minutes after I updated to Ventura. For reference, I'm using an M1 PRO MacBook 14".

I and many others would be very grateful if you could help push this towards being fixed. If there are any more details or logs I can provide, let me know.

Many thanks