Touch ID being Erratic

I have tried most of the methods mentioned here the most succesfull being Griswaldo3g's of enrolling without the case and avoiding any chance of static before replacing the case. And using a single single thumb. It has been working now since Dec 3rd.

I have added fingers since but all have since stopped working.

However I enrolled my thumb with my wifes phone (no case) and tried it again today, two weeks after the event and it went straight in. It seems the less you use TID the better it performs.

Banging my head against the wall, but I've sent Apple feedback again.

Touch ID continues to stop working. Third or fourth time I've posted here. Am on my third phone (5S); got first one on October 6. Went to genius bar twice and talked to several Apple Care support people and let them take logs from the phone. They said that they were committed to solving the problem. They don't seem to get any information to pass on to consumers. I also read the comments on "[iPhone Hardware] - Re: Touch ID being Erratic." Three months without being able to use TID without any reliability. It seems like you're hoping we will give up and go away.

Yep Definately having issues too. Its not consistant enough and takes longer than entering my passcode. Entered multiple id's on the same finger.

Seems like Apple really diddnt test this feature.

BTW, I found out that Apple pays about $14 for every touch sensor which seems like a lot of money for something that dosent work 100%.

While I've had great success with the method that I've developed in enrolling fingerprints, and my wife's has been working for almost 4 months now without failure, I've not been satisfied with the fact that some portions of my thumb stop working over time.

I just updated my post with info that I hope to win my converts back with.

-Joe

Am noiw restoring my iPhone from scratch again to factory settings. My call has been escalated to a senior advisor. So far, touch ID is working 100%, so it must be some OTHER piece of software that is causing the bug. We'll see, but even the junior advisor was now aware of the issue. Will get back to everyone.

I will keep it short and simple, I just heard back from Apple and the engineers say it looks like a software issue after looking at my log. I was told to wait for a software update but he had no idea when that would be. For some reason I am not feeling very optimistic about this. I hope I am wrong.

That is exactly what they told me so I guess now the cat's out of the bag so to speak as they have admitted to a problem. Hopefully more of you will get online or phone them and take the same steps. Maybe the more pressure the faster the fix!

jimspivey wrote:

I will keep it short and simple, I just heard back from Apple and the engineers say it looks like a software issue after looking at my log.

[snip]

Right, just like they said TID failures was a H/W problem and swapped out phones. A lot of phones.

All: I'm finding out more about TID than I really wanted to know, and will be posting updates to this thread only. Might want to check it every now and then. This thread has gotten too many "me too" replies and has grown far too big for new folks who find it to gain any info from it. People tend not to read through 65 pages as a rule.

One last tidbit for this thread: Experiment with varying the pressure used when enrolling a print. It makes a lot of difference...

-Joe

crosspost from Joe_Fo's more focused thread:

I have something very interesting to share. There's a technical podcast on the TWIT network called "Security Now" where the hosts touched on a way to "overtrain" TouchID. Here's a link to the show — the relevant part starts at ~11:08

http://twit.tv/show/security-now/440

Essentially, you can continue to train TouchID beyond the initial session within the Settings app. Basically, go into Settings>General>Touch ID & Passcode, put in your passcode as prompted, and tap TouchID.

You should be able to see the registered fingerprints at the bottom of the screen.

Now, touch your finger to the sensor, and you will notice the respective listing for that finger briefly highlight through a shadow-flash. It's essentially registering a new sampling. It's like a gym session for TouchID. I plan on giving it a go during edge cases like when it's cold or my fingers are dry in hopes of reducing non-responses.

I really think this is the key. Have a listen to the techie explanation if you are curious, as it does make sense. It's not just registering recognition of the finger — it is signaling new data added to the sampling.

FWIW, I do know that the beta for iOS 7.1 addresses some of the other TouchID glitches (Twitter-related etc.) so help is on the way... This is great technology... Don't give up everyone. Expanded uses beyond its current form are inevitable... and exciting!

Thanks George. I know 65 pages of posts is a lot to wade through, but that method was detailed way back somewhere in this thread. As Joe noted, this thread has become so unweildy that it is almost worhtless to anybody looking for help at this point.

Thanks so much George. This explanation really makes sense. I am definitely going to try this!

I am having the same ISSUE, I BOUGHT 2 IPHONES IN DECEMBER ONE FOR MY DAUGHTER AND ONE FOR MYSELF from Apple, her fingerprint recognition works perfectly, mine works for a period then I scrub the fingerprint (5 times I have it input) and it works for a few days then it works from time to time but totally inconsistant.

I had an appointment yesterday (SAturday 1st Feb) at Apple and they did some sort of scan on my phone and said the software is corrupted, possibly from some apps ? Anyway they sent me home to make a backup on my MACBOOK pro and I have another appointment Tomorrow (Monday) for them to reset my phone completely not the factory reset but some other reset. They told me I cannot use the icloud to update the ´reset´handset becuse I would copy the bugs to the reset handset !!! So i´m wondering how I will get my data back onto the phone... Anyway after reading the comments on here I will ask for a new phone replacement tomorrow, if it doesnt work I will switch off finger recognition, I cant be bothered with all this mucking about for a phone that cost me just under a grand.

Back to the drawing board for a TID phone that will work for me. I watched the video that George directed us to. I was really excited thinking finally someone has an answer. I must have checked out the scan over 60 times in the first little while after scanning the print into the phone to let it get really good an familiar with my print. 24 hrs. lalter it wouldn't even highlight the scan to show it was recognizing the print, which it wasn't, and I was back to square one. I will keep watching this discussion but it is back to the passcode for me again. At least we seem to be making some progress to get Apple to even admit there is a problem.

My touch ID has never worked properly. I've done all the so-called fixes, and it still only works about 30% of the time. I've gone back to the 4 digit code just so I won't go crazy thinking the ID will magically work again. It is terrible technology and Apple didn't test it enough. Weak.

I hope Apple monitors this string.

Funny story, My touch id worked pretty well until this weekend.

Went skateboarding all weekend. The griptape (sandpaper) rubbing on my thumb all weekend made the thumbprint unrecognizable. LOL! Had to reprogram.

Moral of the story: Fingerprints change for a variety of reasons.

I stll like the feature and will continue to use it.