Touch ID being Erratic

SuperSizeIt wrote:

Spoke to soon. After a few days, its back to not recognizing again.... oh well. I guess Touch ID needs an update. Firmware or Software... not ready for primetime it seems.

Yep. I spoke too soon too. Same thing is happening for me too.

I sent an email directly to the corporate office (I have a few emails of upper level people there). I received a respnse via email and a phone call from an upper level tech support guy. Since I was not in front of my computer at the time, he could not do much other then downloading the crash logs from my phone. He told me that he will call me back tomorrow to deal with this issue as well as several others (Compass, Level/Accelerometer, Voice Memos) I hope he does call me back.

One thing the tech guy told me, is that it is always a good idea to leave feedback regarding any issues at http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html. That way the issues/complaints will directly be brought to the attention of the engineers. The more complaints about issues to faster Apple will work on a fix.

While I won't deny there may be some with defective H/W, or some buggy S/W involved, I had problems too, and the fix for me was simple. I'd suggest trying it before doing anything drastic, or wasting time chasing your tail. Only takes minutes to try. Go ahead, give your 5S the finger. Just do it the right way ;)

Try https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5446246?answerId=23417646022#23417646022

-Joe

Joe_Fo wrote:

While I won't deny there may be some with defective H/W, or some buggy S/W involved, I had problems too, and the fix for me was simple. I'd suggest trying it before doing anything drastic, or wasting time chasing your tail. Only takes minutes to try. Go ahead, give your 5S the finger. Just do it the right way ;)

Try https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5446246?answerId=23417646022#23417646022

-Joe

Thank you Joe. Yes, by all means try this first. Joe is right. Touch ID works much better with the pad or thicker part of your finger or thumb, rather than the tip. The best and fastest way to use it is to click the home button to wake the phone ( but don't hold the button down or you'll activate Siri) and keep the pad of your thumb or finger on the button to unlock it all in one move.

I think even with this method though there are people still having software or other more technincal issues. I certainly was.

Joe_Fo wrote:

While I won't deny there may be some with defective H/W, or some buggy S/W involved, I had problems too, and the fix for me was simple. I'd suggest trying it before doing anything drastic, or wasting time chasing your tail. Only takes minutes to try. Go ahead, give your 5S the finger. Just do it the right way ;)

Try https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5446246?answerId=23417646022#23417646022

-Joe

Joe,

This post and your most recent one with a picture have helped my iPhone to work much better. I still get failures after time, but I also now get successes. Will keep watching to see if things degrade again...

In the Touch ID video at: http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/videos/#video-touch

Dan Riccio states: “Every time you use it it gets better at reading your prints”

In the detailed article on Touch ID at: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5949

in the second section ‘Advanced technologies’ it states:

"Touch ID will incrementally add new sections of your fingerprint to your enrolled fingerprint data to improve matching accuracy over time."

One of the Apple sites states that TouchID is supposed to improve with usage. Whether that means the fingerprint criteria is tightened or loosened (based on various positional readings), this seems to imply this is not a static operation from the initial read. So here's a possible theory (swag)- suppose this is either corrupting the fingerprint scan data or tightening it beyond usability? Just a thought, based on the symptoms that I see as well as quite a few others.

Here's the quote from this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5949

Touch ID will incrementally add new sections of your fingerprint to your enrolled fingerprint data to improve matching accuracy over time. Touch ID uses all of this to provide an accurate match and a very high level of security.

I would add:

1. Install 703

2. Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Settings [this was suggested above]

3. Retrain using the instructions given by Apple here.

Step #2 followed by #3 seem really to have improved accuracy for me.

Do this.

First do full back up in iTunes and iCloud.

Then do Erase All Content and Settings.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2110

When done set up your iPhone again, right from iCloud. Set up Touch ID again.

See if that resolves it.

I posted the following about a week ago. I'm more convinced now that this is what is happening to some of us- criteria for match is being tightened over time.

One of the Apple sites states that TouchID is supposed to improve with usage. Whether that means the fingerprint criteria is tightened or loosened (based on various positional readings), this seems to imply this is not a static operation from the initial read. So here's a possible theory (swag)- suppose this is either corrupting the fingerprint scan data or tightening it beyond usability? Just a thought, based on the symptoms that I see as well as quite a few others.

Here's the quote from this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5949

Touch ID will incrementally add new sections of your fingerprint to your enrolled fingerprint data to improve matching accuracy over time. Touch ID uses all of this to provide an accurate match and a very high level of security.

smilleresq wrote:

I can occasionally get 1 finger to work. What I do not understand is why does it get progressively more sensitive after registering a fingerprint? I mean, after scanning my fingers, the phone will open each and every time immediately thereafter. However, wait awhile and it does not open immediately and to get it to successfully open, you have to place your finger in a precise manner on the scanner, otherwise it fails to open.

Makes no sense to me.

Start over. Blow existing prints away by turning passcode off then back on,

selecting "Delete" to delete "Saved Fingerprints".

Register 1 or 2 fingers only to start. When training, rotate finger through

25 to 30 degree arc total, rotating about 5 degrees between scans. Also

move finger slightly towards and away from tip, making sure NOT to get

closer to the tip as I showed earlier in ths thread.

Bottom line: Exposing more of a finger during the initial registration

will result in better results. At least that's what I found true over

the first 2 weeks I struggled with the phone.

This has worked very reliably for me at least.

-Joe

Joe_Fo wrote:

Register 1 or 2 fingers only to start. When training, rotate finger through

25 to 30 degree arc total, rotating about 5 degrees between scans. Also

move finger slightly towards and away from tip, making sure NOT to get

closer to the tip as I showed earlier in ths thread.

I'm confused about the rotation, because earlier, you seemed to suggest that it was not a good idea.

odysseus wrote:

[snip]

I'm confused about the rotation, because earlier, you seemed to suggest that it was not a good idea.

Not sure which part of the post you refer to? By rotate, I mean leaving a finger flat on

the home buttom while training, but with each training scan moving (rotating) clockwise

or counter clockwise a few degrees (5 maybe) between scans. I estinate I "rotated" from

a 5 o'clock starting point, to a 7 o'clock position, or there abouts, also moving slightly

a partial length of the finger.

Maybe this describes it better? Some day when I get time and energy a YouTube post

might help...

I remember someone, maybe in this thread, stating they were told to "roll"

(best word to describe it I think) their finger during training, as seen in cop shows the way

real ink based fingerprint on paper is taken. A bad idea IMHO as the scanner, from

what I can tell, does not do well with movement when trying to unlock, so why would it

be expecting that rolling motion during training...

Boy, did this thread give me a good laugh! I started reading the posts and discovered that my wife and I are apparently not the only people having a problem with Touch ID reliability. My phone works as advertised and my wife's phone works for me but not for her... What the heck is going on with iPhones purchased by married couples??? 😉

Last night as we struggled to get her phone working properly trying some of the "fixes" suggested in this thread I got an idea: I took a close look at the fingers my wife has been using to unlock her iPhone.

Both fingers have less than perfect skin. Instead of clear fingerprints there are tiny scars and what looks like staining. My spouse is 66 years old and for many years she has done yardwork and gardening without using gloves (I always wear gloves...) As a result her fingers exhibit a lot more wear and tear than my fingers. Could the lack of a reasonably clear fingerprint be the cause of the problem? It makes a lot of sense to me since the fingerprint technology appears to rely on multiple "reads" of the user's fingerprint structure...

As a test my wife used a couple of fingers that are in much better condition. After she did that Touch ID began to work on her phone. Today will be the first full day of use so by the end of the day we should have a good idea if this workaround works or not...

One question: How does one "delete" an existing fingerprint? I haven't found a way to do this...

We are still having a problem with the app icons not responding to touch as I detailed in this thread: 5S Icons Don't Always Respond To Touch... https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5552989

Joe_Fo wrote:

smilleresq wrote:

[snip]

I scanned it closer to the thumbnail. I also followed scanning instructions I found here: http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/10/14/iphone-5s-touch-id-problems-frustrate-he res-fix/

I'm still going to go to the apple store tomorrow.

As a followup: That "solution" was posted by Dreanmachine1 in this thread on Oct 7, and worked well for a short time, then failed like other attempts. I too tried this early on, and it failed.

I'll stick with my method as it's the only thing that I found to be 100% after weeks of use...

I knew it had been posted here but I couldnt find it after a short look. so I referenced the other site.

To recap, in essence your technique is to scan your finger further down the nail (not the fingertip) and reposition your finger with greater distance with each scan. Here is your orignal thread addressing this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5446246

I'll try that.

Sorry, my intention was not to turn this into a flame war. Perhaps I should have stated "except for those who read more than the first post". I thought that would have been implicit...

I posted info on how to register a print that works, and has been verified by others. Posting helpful info in a user to user based forum isn't trolling. Having a 5S that unlock 100% without having to enter a passcode is not the result of speculation. Hard to argue with facts. Perhaps you missed those posts.

My point is, if the H/W and S/W works for some, then barring defective H/W, it should work for all.

While there are some issues that have not been solved yet with S/W interactions causing Touch ID to totally fail until your passcode is entered, notably but not limited to Twitter, this is vastly different than those whos prints work for only hours to a few days and then totally fail, For those who find thenselves in this situation, as I was back on launch day, they need to modify how the register and use Touch ID.

I started a thread on a fix as well. Hardly a troll.