Touch ID being Erratic

I'm having chronic problems with my TouchID. I've deleted and re-scanned them three times and everytime it works for a little while then slowly stops recognizing my prints at all (even when I clean the button). Nothing seems to make it work for longer than a day.

I just want to add my experience to this long list. I have deleted and re-registered my fingers (thumb and index finger) four or five times. Each time, my fingers are recognized for a short time, then recognition becomes erratic. Finally, I have to enter the passcode every time. At this point, I have completely abandoned trying Touch ID and use on the passcode. As far as I am concerned, this feature does not work and deserves immediate serious attention from Apple.

Totally agree. I have tried setting up my touch ID again several times but it still doesn't work effectively. The last time I tried registering only one fingerprint but it only works for a very brief time. Fix this Apple!!

I've been following the discussions about erratic touch ID for a while. I returned two 5s phones two months ago and finally just gave up and bought a 5c. I had not had a smart phone before. I did not want to mess with the issues of getting touch id to work any longer, as it clearly would not work for me. And this is what it seems to come down to …. There is a percentage of users who will never get touch ID to work. I really don't think we know what the issue is – hardware, software, etc. Touch ID is just not going to work for some people. Perhaps someday Apple will figure it out but I'm not holding out hope until maybe iPhone 6.

I have also done a fresh install without restoring a backup and have not had success. While it is possible that some people need to do this, I also would venture to say that most issues with TID are not related to a corrupt backup.

For all those asking Apple to fix this, Apple isn't listening, they don't look at these forum's. There's another long forum about PhotoStream not working with Windows, Apple has done nothing about that either, because they don't follow the forums. Only thing you can do is call support or go into the store. When I took my iPhone 5s back to the store they said they had never heard of the problem. Apple isn't the company it used to be.

I have this problem too; Touch ID does not work roughly 60% of the time. Keep in mind, though, that this is the very first iteration of an emerging technology and it is bound to have successes and failures. Remember that you can always enter your passcode instead, which only takes a second longer 🙂

Well Apple Chat advisor called me back at noon as promised and she got my phone going. She approached it in a different way than the one that couldn't get it fixed. Everyone there you talk with seems to approach things differently. As stated one advisor told me it was a hardware problem and sent a new phone. Then the next one said it wasn't a hardware or software problem. Then I was told Apple never reads this discussion. Then they admitted it may be a software problem but they haven't been told anything about it so don't think there is a fix coming. When I put forth the idea it may be a corrupt backup made to iTunes from a former phone (an iPhone 4 in my case) as one of you suggested on this discussion, they jumped on that and decided I needed to set up my phone as a new phone. Well it is done now so we'll see if it continues to work......it is still working as I type this.....about 24 hurs. now.

A little off the subject but I have to look for some good reasons I spent the extra money for TID. I was told by my son to text him but I could talk to do it. When you have the keyboard come up, down where the other keyboards are shown (bottom) there is a little pic of a mirophone. Touch it and then you can speak what you want to text and voila! it writes it down. I'm not much of a texter as it is so fiddly so this works really well for me. Another thing you can do is hold down the button till Siri comes up and then say for instance, what is the weather tomorrow, or what appts. do I have next week. I've heard one person uses it for maps when driving for the directions. I'm sure you guys could think of a few other uses. At lease we can play with that till TID is fixed!!!

marchthefirst, in my view your comments are ridiculous. Firstly, emerging technology, if it doesn't work they shouldn't sell it commercially until it does. And as for "you can always enter your passcode instead", that's an equally ridiculous comment. The 5s is my first iphone and I bought it because of the finger recognition and fact that I could keep the phone locked for security but not have to muck about putting in a four digit code every time I wanted to check an email.

Here is a reply I got from apple after sending them stack shots and other data (my phone has been crashing for weeks when using touch id to unlock it)

I’ve received a response from the iOS engineering team. They informed me that they are seeing increased reports of this behavior with Touch ID and that they’re currently gathering logs and investigating the root cause. The resolution of the investigation may come in the form of an update, a KB article on our support site, or a combination of the two. They state if you see any software updates available to download and install them.

Conflicting info from several Apple Support people not surprising RE TID problems. I had a second or third level type who, while knowledgable, did not know enrolled fingerprint name could be changed. Also, they have zero detailed info about the inner H/W or S/W workings of TID as it's only known to a select core of developers from what I'm told. Makes sense, actually...

For the recent people on this list over the last few days stating TID doesn't work for them, or that they've given up on it, have any of you tried the several methods we've been talking about in this thread over the last several months which might just work for you while Apple finds a fix?

My experience was the same as yours: TID just did not woek. Then I found a solution, posted here and in this thread, and provided a YouTube video. While this works better than other methods I've tried, there are 3 other folks here use different methods which works for them Mine works as long as only one finger of the five is enrolled, and has been since early October. Might want to check them all out before giving up on TID 🙂

I just sent feedback to Apple, as have others here. Here's mine:

"Concerned about Apple Support stating there are no H/W or S/W problems with Touch ID failing, hence

no fix in the works. I can detail major issues, and have tried to help others in your Community Forum,

but this lack of acknowledgement of problems does not bode well for the China launch. Let me know

if you'd like detailed info on the problems as I see them."

While I'm not expecting much at this point, any and all complaints through their official feedback page helps.

Hi Theseus

I'm starting to get the same symptoms as you. TID was crap to start I tried everything shown here, Joe Fo method was good for about 2/3 weeks then faded. I then tried the two thumbs in the same slot at enrolment, this worked for a while then faded but I didn't delete it I added a finger in a separate slot which also worked for a while.

Now here's the crazy part, I deleted the finger & tried the double thumb slot that I hadn't deleted and it worked fantastically and has been for about a week now. Soon as I press the button to wake the phone up it goes straight in. Unfortunately today it has crashed several times as I've applied thumb to enter.

I will get in touch with Apple support here in the UK. The more we bombard them hopefully they'll do something.

Mine still does not work. I works great for an hour or two then it's gone. Apple, FIX THIS!

Cheers,

Cameron

TID on my 2nd iphone 5s had deteriorated to only a 3 hour period before I had to reinstall my finger, so I returned it to the Apple Store on Tuesday. Genius Bar personnel were very understanding about this problem and gave me no problems with replacing my phone, but it is inconvenient in restoring the phone from i cloud. The 3rd Phone worked well for about a day and a half but started failing completely today. Now TID works about once in 5 tries or not at all. It sure seems as others have stated that this is a software problem, as how could TID failures be occuring on 3 separate phones? Sure would be great if Apple would look into this problem!!