Touch ID being Erratic

You can put in up to 5 fingerprints on the Touch ID screen. I put in my right thumb 5 times. While still on the Touch ID screen, I put my thumb on the sensor repeatedly. I see different fingerprints get highlighted on different presses. I think that's helped some. the problem is, the next day, I have to do it again. I'm trying some of the other suggestions in this thread. I'll report on how it goes.

I have tried this and it worked today. It may work for you also. I reset my device as new. Basically erased everything, by going to settings>general>reset>erase all content and settings. I set my phone up as new and input 4 different fingers for Touch ID. It's important to back up your phone to your computer or icloud before you erase everything. Then I synced it with my itunes account and Touch ID started working again. You guys should give it a try!

I posted before that I have installed my thumb print as per Joe Fo instructions & also cut the screen protector just above the button. This has worked well for a week.

However, today the TID stopped working. This was after doing a few jobs on my daughters car getting my hands dirty but not particularly oily. When finished & washed up, after about an hour I tried the phone & zilch. I didn't re enter my print but thought I'd scrub my thumb with a nail brush & it worked.

I wonder if my skin had dried & got scaley which was improved by scrubbing, the TID seems quite good again now.

paulfromhere: I will keep updating. So far no issues into day 2.

For those who haven't followed this thread from the beginning, I am on my third phone. The first was ordered on day 1 and was swapped out after a couple weeks with Touch ID problems. That was so early on it was before Joe_fo developed his method, so my problems with the first unit could've been related to improper registration of the prints. My second phone lasted two months. Though I feel Joe's method resolved the gradual print degradation issue (at least for one finger, additional fingers added seemed to cause failure), I started experiencing intermittent total failure of TID, getting "try again" until I had to enter passcode to unlock. This would eventually resolve and TID would work fine until the next time. A few days ago that condition got so bad that I decided to totally wipe the phone and restore it "as-new" with no third party apps. Still got the total failure immediately after setting up TID.

Decided then there must be a hardware issue and swapped the phone at Apple Store. So far so good on third unit, though it is only day two.

Well, I've read through this entire thread in search of an answer for my own touch ID problems. I'd like to share my findings in a way that doesn't prompt Apple to delete my post -- when I recently tried starting a new thread with my problems, they imediately deleted my post, claiming that I was starting a poll (not true, of course). I'm just hoping against hope that somebody, somewhere, has an answer for me.

THE PROBLEM: It's exactly the same as described elsewhere. No matter how carefully I register my fingerprints, my phone forgets my prints within a few hours.

SOLUTIONS I'VE TRIED INCLUDE:

1. I've tried erasing the phone and setting it up as a new one. I have done this several times, which is quite a tedious task considering that I have over 200 apps, organized into folders. NO JOY.

2. I've tried registering my prints differently. I have tried several different techniques, including the one detailed so excellently by Joe_Fo. I have also tried registering just one print five different ways, registering five different fingers to see if one will actually work, etc. NO JOY.

3. I've tried swapping out my phone for a new one. The wonderful folks at my local Apple store have actually done this for me twice. Each time, I set up the new phone as, well, a new phone, rather than restoring from backup.So I have now had the depressing experience of watching my touch ID fail on three different phones. NO JOY.

4. I've tried scrubbing my hands squeaky clean. I have then tried and registering when my fingers are slightly moist or completely dry. NO JOY.

So I think that takes care of every "cure" described here or elsewhere. None of them work for me. But I HAVE noticed some clues that may lead to a real cure.

CLUES:

1. I can make my phone forget my finger prints INSTANTLY, and fairly reliably, by playing a video while uusing a navigation app -- in other words, making the processor and memory work hard.

2. I can make my phone "remember" my fingerprints a bit better -- not forever, but a bit longer -- by using an app called SYS-ACTIVITY or SYS-LITE. It's a terrific utility which, among other things, can create about half a GB of free memory. I thought at first that this app, used several times a day, might be my cure. Alas, no. But it does help a bit.

SO WHAT IS THE CURE?

To go any further, I would need to be a software engineer, and alas I am not. But it does seem to my unschooled brain that the failures are probably not hardware-releated -- at least, not for me. I must believe that the act of fingerprint-recognition is fairly processor-intensive and demanding of memory. And I have read that the print-data is cached in the processor. So there MUST be a bug that can be triggered by using demanding apps together -- ESPECIALLY apps, like video podcast catchers and maps, that are allowed to multi-task in real time.

I don't believe this problem is confined to just a few of us. I've heard from too many others with similar problems to believe this.

This gives me hope that someday my problem might be fixed. Meantime I'm miserable. The only reason I sold my iPhone 5 and bought the 5s was for the touch ID, and now it doesn't work. If anybody has a fix that I haven'y already tried, I'm dying to hear it.

Arthur_P_Johnson wrote:

Well, I've read through this entire thread in search of an answer for my own touch ID problems. I'd like to share my findings in a way that doesn't prompt Apple to delete my post -- when I recently tried starting a new thread with my problems, they imediately deleted my post, claiming that I was starting a poll (not true, of course). I'm just hoping against hope that somebody, somewhere, has an answer for me.

[snip]

2. I've tried registering my prints differently. I have tried several different techniques, including the one detailed so excellently by Joe_Fo. I have also tried registering just one print five different ways, registering five different fingers to see if one will actually work, etc. NO JOY.

[snip]

CLUES:

1. I can make my phone forget my finger prints INSTANTLY, and fairly reliably, by playing a video while uusing a navigation app -- in other words, making the processor and memory work hard.

[snip]

Talk about being through the wringer 😟

Only points I'd add: Instead of one print 5 ways, delete them all and just one finger, one time only. Thought being the learning process which is supposed to improve over time appears to make things worse, and the model it has in a protected area of the A7, not available to apps like shared swapable memory, get modified to the point where it does Bad Things to TID.

FWIW, I run WAZE in the background and PC2ME in the foreground at times without TID failing. Not the same apps as you, but it's the real-time app switching aspect that's the same. Also mail fetching and push notifications would fall in the same class, although not heavy hitters data-wise.

When TID fails, have you tried the TID add a fingerprint page to see if any finger highlights when placed on the sensor?

Maybe this is Apple's way of saying, "Sorry for the TID problem. Enjoy this while we fix the problem"?

Arthur_P_Johnson wrote:

I don't believe this problem is confined to just a few of us. I've heard from too many others with similar problems to believe this.

This gives me hope that someday my problem might be fixed. Meantime I'm miserable. The only reason I sold my iPhone 5 and bought the 5s was for the touch ID, and now it doesn't work. If anybody has a fix that I haven'y already tried, I'm dying to hear it.

I posted this a way back and I guess no one else agrees, but I really do believe this is the software fix that would fix our (yours and mine) problems:

Submit an enhancement at http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Subject: Touch ID Fails after a short time

Touch ID works great initially, but fails completely for me after a few hours. I have this same problem on 5 (actually, Arthur, yours is only 3, I'm the lucky guy with 5) different iPhone 5s.

It seems to me that it fails because my prints change a little bit, and thinking they’re normal, the software adds them to the existing print. Over time, this actually degrades the existing print, until it no longer works. I suggest that you change the software as follows:

1 change the enrollment procedure to allow as many scans as I want to do

2 allow me to go back and add to an enrollment at any time

3 provide a “disable” switch in the touch id settings to disable the automatic modification of a stored print by the software

I think it is a good idea to provide feedback to Apple so they know how prevalent the issue is (if they don't already).

As for your solution, I think people may not have responded to it because the underlying implication - your prints changing - is not widely accepted.

This is not entirely a bad thing - with all the discussion go on here somebody might eventually figure this out - but it does make you stop and think about whether that statement might be true.

Some people say this is solely a software issue (Joe_Fo and me), others say it is an issue with the way TouchID scans your fingerprint (me), and still others say it is an issue with the dynamics of your finger (you and me)... I think we have to question which of these might be true in general (and for ourselves) and appreciate that Apple probably does too - that is why we continue to have this issue...

In the end, we might have to implement any number of solutions on a per-user basis, for us all to be able to use TouchID. When all is said and done though, some of us may not be able to get it to work reliably.

I am very glad to have found this thread. When I first got my 5s I had this problem. I.e. Touch ID worked great for a couple of days and gradually failed to recognize my print more and more of the time until it pretty much never worked. I tried re-enrolling my prints, restoring my phone and finally exchanging my phone for a different one. Over a couple of days no matter what I've tried I always end up back at the same place. I thought I was losing my mind and even had the Genius Bar person tell me that maybe it was just my fingers that the scanner wouldn't work well with. I would buy into that except it always works great for the first day or two after enrolling prints. I thought I was losing my mind and am so glad to know that I'm not alone in having this very frustrating problem. I will be watching this thread with interest .. I do believe there is an issue of some sort that needs to be addressed by Apple.

I have the same problems as described by others. I went in today & got a new iPhone & I think I will still have the same problem. Enrolled my thumb at the Apple store, 1 hour later I got the "Try again". Will update after using it for awhile but in my opinion it's not a hardware issue, I think it's software. I hope Apple addresses this & realizes this affect's a lot of users who upgraded just for this feature (like me)

Read the following if you haven't already. Follow the YouTube link in it. Enroll one finger, once only. Let us know if it helps.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5608670?tstart=30

I, too, have been plaqued by the annoying failure of the TID. First I phoned Apple to find out how it worked as the salesman who sold me the phone wasn't sure. Then a couple of weeks later I reported my problem with the TID to them. They had me wipe my phone to virgin state after first doing a backup of my phone in iTunes and then reinstalling the backup on my phone. This was supposed to fix any software proiblems. No dice. It worked for while and then started failing again. Tonight I phoned Apple and told them what was going on. I have a warranty from the place where I bought my phone from and they were willing to give me a new phone but I thought before I set up another phone maybe Apple could enlighten me whether this problem is a software or hardware problem. So I phoned and talked to a senior advisor and told her that it was not acceptable to have a feature that you had to wash your hands and make sure they are completely dry before you answered your phone or wanted to use an app. This advisor did tell me then that it is a hardware problem. I asked her if she was sure as I didn't want to set up another phone if I can just wait for a softwaee update. She assured me Apple knew it was a hardware problem. So I have to have them send me a new phone and put a hold on funds from my credit card. When I send back the old one and they check it out and see that it isn't working they will release the hold on my card. I figured it was better to do this than get another one from my initial supplier. I'm hoping they will make sure it is working properly before sending it. I can only hope!! I will come back to this discussion after I have had my phone for at least 2 weeks and it is working fine, or not. I do hope it really is the hardware. BTW I just thought of this. I have a gold 16GB iPhone 5S. Do any (or all) have this phone. Maybe it is the color or the amount of storage?

doggyluver5 wrote:

completely dry before you answered your phone or wanted to use an app. This advisor did tell me then that it is a hardware problem. I asked her if she was sure as I didn't want to set up another phone if I can just wait for a softwaee update. She assured me Apple knew it was a hardware problem. So I have to have them send me a new phone and put a

Thanks greatly for posting this. This is new information, and very compelling. Was this a US advisor? Exactly what date did you get this advice?

Hi Doggluver

I've had the same probs. Mine is silver. (16gb)