Touch ID being Erratic

YA you dont care cuz its the cheapest phone available in the market. Its just below one grand.

LOL

HAhahahahahaha

are you a billionaire? If yes please gift me some apple products which are just below one grand. :*

No. The point is that I'm NOT rich. I'm happy to have the Apple product I do have!

Maybe you should go pickup a free android device. Then after a year of battles come back to Apple with a greatful heart.🙂

Look, They've been great to me so far. I'm not going to trash the company for a few glitches in an industry that's full of massive fails. I'm just sharing a funny story I ran into. Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers.

Greatful? are you kidding me, if I have paid a premium price for a product that doesn't function as advertised you bet I am going to be upset. My Touch ID hasn't worked since I purchased it and this is my third return. I don't need to hear from someone that says i should be "grateful" even if the iPhone doesnt work properly as advertised.

Sorry you've had problems.

I'm even sorrier you think I should hate the product because of your experience.

I'm now on my third iPhone at the senior advisor's request, in case the first two were from the same batch. It has the same issue. When we did the step-by-step reinstall of everything, it didn't fail until we got to installing Numbers, and me accessing a document in the 'Cloud'; then the problems began. Wouldn't be surprized if the security in iCloud is causing MY security in the iPhone to fail, or some such wretched interaction. Anyway, we'll have to wait for a fix. Apple has bent over backwards for me, it's just not happening to enough people to become a hot issue; it's some little piece of software we all have that's causing the problem, but it must be software that not everyone is using or the issue would be much more widespread than it is. I love the phone, and all it's features; this is not a deal-breaker for me, but I would like it to work.

Cheers,

Cameron

I have been having the same TID degradation issues as most everone else here since October and had been dealing with various Apple Senior advisors, logs sent to Apple, three iPhones, and various theories including not restoring new phones from a backup, reinstalling the software, not installing any apps etc. It's been a complete waste of my time.

But here is something that I have not seen mentioned before that goes to the theory that over time and updating by the TID software with repeated use, the enrolled print becomes corrupted in some way. One week ago, after giving up on TID completely weeks earlier, I enrolled one print of mine and one of my wife's (her's for the first time). I tested both prints immediately (they worked instantly) and then turned off TID. Today one week later, after not using or enabling TID for 7 days, I turned on TID and attempted to unlock the phone, first with my print, and then with my wife's. The results were 0% successful as was checking the prints in Settings. Zero recognition.

BTW, I find it interesting that three Apple Senior Advisors completely stopped responding to my follow-up emails and voicemails - two after the first contact and one after a number of phone sessions. I was always pleasant and cooperative, only doing exactly what they instructed me to do. I have the impression that Apple is deliberately sweeping this issue under the rug.

Odd. Tried to reply to Frank8989 and keep getting submission errors...

Frank,

Did you turn off both TID unlock and iTunes/App Store? Also, did you leave passcode unlock on or off, and if on, simple or complex? Was your Require Passcode set to Immediately? I'd like to try this, but want to make sure I duplicate your steps.

-Joe

Joe - All I did was turn off Passcode Lock, leaving Safari AutoFill on. Simple Passcode was on - it had never been changed. Require Passcode was never changed from Immediately and Ihad never turned on iTunes/App Store. This left my phone in an unlocked state.

Frank,

Okay, thanks. I duplicated that except for Safari autoFill which I don't use on any platform.

I used my method modified, using an angled thumb to capture edges and a very light amount of pressure during enrollment. A sleep, awake, mandatory enter passcode after new print, sleep, awake TID unlock a few times to make sure print was accepted. Finally turned passcode off. Will see what happens in a few days.

Thanks for thinking of doing this. If it can be duplicated, this really needs to be fed back to Apple.

"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."

Hi, could you try adding each other's prints to each phone? Add your fingerprint to her phone, and let your daughter add her print to her phone. I think you see where I'm going with this. At least this may help separate hardware issues from "bad" scans or prints.

If possible, try it and let us know, thanks!

Well, my turn...

I've been watching this discussion since the beginning and appreciate all the ideas everyone has, as crazy as they might be, you never know when you'll stumble upon something that you've never tried. 😉

I got my 32 Gig iPhone 5s (unlocked) in early November, so I dropped a lot of money on this thing. I always purchase factory unlocked iPhones. I didn't get it specifically for TID, but I did want to use it and have it work. There are some locations that I travel to, where I use a complex passcode only.

Initially, my prints lasted about a week and then degraded rapidly. I came here to the discussion groups and saw others with the same issues. I methodically tried almost every solution that all of suggested, using a text file to record and document each method. I scanned and rescanned using Joe_Fo's advice (which I think is probably the best way to do a scan) and Griswaldo's anti-static theory, and many of the other's advice, too numerous to name. I tried the install as New phone, completely wiping it out and leaving it factory fresh for about a week, with no other apps present... same thing. I do suffer from dry skin, not excessive, but maybe drier than normal. But, I tried cleaning the sensor each time, cleaning my hands, skin lotion, no skin lotion... all with no luck. And, I tried mulitple scans of each finger, different fingers, all that stuff.

Finally, in late December, I asked my local Apple store, where I purchased it, for a replacement, which they did with no problem. Took it home, started the whole procedure over, and this time... wait for it... my scans deteriorated within 24 hours, even worse than my original phone. Again, I went thorough all those ideas that I had tried before with no luck.

Seeing that many of you have had several replacements, and still having the same issue, I'm more inclined to think it's a software issue and hopefully it will be addressed. But, I understand how frustrating it is, and as Doggyluver said (I'm a doggie lover also, have three!), it's just easier to use my passcode all the time, and I've been doing that since my 1st gen iPhone, so it's no big deal.

I've never had anything to add to the discussion, I think everyone has beat this horse to death. But yesterday, while waiting for a client, I was bored and decided to try it again. So, I closed all apps and restarted (I usually do it like this, but have also not done it like this), and using JoeFo's method, rescanned my thumb print. And yes, after a few hours, it quit. But, in desparation, I moved my thumb way up on the sensor and it worked. And today, it worked again. I honestly don't think I scanned my thumb this far down, almost to the first joint, but this has lasted longer than previous attempts. When I go to TID in Settings, it will not light up with the areas I scanned, but if I go further down, almost to that first joint, it will light up, and it will unlock the phone. It's kind of the widest area of my thumb, just above that first joint.

Again, this just may be another abnormality that goes away tomorrow, but I'll keep training it for a few more days and if it lasts, I'll report back. I've also given Apple feedback on this, so hopefully, whatever issue is going on, will eventually be addressed. For the record, I use a Magpul slip-on case, with a cheap screen protector (although I've tried it "naked" also).

Thanks to all for your ideas and perseverance, hopefully it will pay off.

Oops, sorry I got that wrong, I meant have your daughter add her print to YOUR phone. You probably knew what I meant, but I just wanted to clarify. In other words, swap prints to each other's phone. Just curious, thanks!

"But, in desparation," should be "desperation". I wish Apple's spell check would work better.

It is interesting that I have also encountered the print creep phenomenom you mentioned. A few weeks ago I thought I had hit on something that actually seemed to be less of a random event that might lead to pinpointing the cause. The TID worked much more reliably up my thumb closer to the first joint than where I had scanned my thumb originally. I will now continue my quest to see where the sweet spot is now,e.g., elbow, shoulder, nose, ear lobe, etc. If I find it, I will let Apple know. 😉

Try changing finger pressure when enrolling. I found vastly different results with TID.