Touch ID on Mac randomly requires password

If you still have to enter your password: For security, you need to enter your password when you start your Mac. Sometimes you need to enter your password to continue using Touch ID. For example, users must re-enter their password every 48 hours and after five incorrect fingerprint attempts.

from:

Use Touch ID on Mac - Apple Support

But many such problems are caused by your fingerprint sometimes not quite matching.

You can add up to three fingerprints to your user account (you can save up to five fingerprints on your Mac).

You can increase recognition dramatically by using the several fingerprints allowed, to store multiple instances of the SAME fingerprint. Then if any matches, you are in, and you don't care which one did the job.

Sometimes you may need to press the TouchID button momentarily like a power button instead of just lightly touching your finger to it.

My M1 Mac usually needs me to press the TouchID button before it will scan the fingerprint. My M2 Mac many times just needs to lightly press my finger on the TouchID to unlock, but even the M2 sometimes requires me to press the TouchID more like a power button when the laptop has been sitting locked for a long time.

BeepBoopDoot wrote:

Touch ID requires password randomly

This is more of an annoyance than an actual problem, but if there's a solution I'd love to know.

On my Mac at work I can typically go away from my desk for hours at a time, come back and use Touch ID to carry on working on my laptop. However, sometimes I will just pop out for a few minutes, come back and Touch ID does nothing, I then have to press some keys to make the password box come up, and I then have to type my password as Touch ID needs it to unlock. I wish I could just use Touch ID. I would understand more if it needed the password after hours, but not after a few minutes. Does anybody have any ideas or solutions?

Thanks

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.2

Do you say what exact macOS, is this information correct: "MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.2"....(???)

Intel Mac or M- series Mac you do not say, and as you might imagine there are some diferences in the approach to resolve your issue.

There are some known issues in the macOS Tahoe here yes

See if there is an relief in this thread, several proposals

MacBook Pro Touch ID not working after 26.3 update

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256244768?sortBy=oldest_first

The current Ventura is 13.7.8 if that is your information as provide — I would start there

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/get-macos-updates-mchlpx1065/mac