Touch ID being Erratic

This is my second 5s. I returned the first because the finger print Id worked for a day or two and didn't after that. I restored back to factory default and then restored from Icloud so the operation system would not no flaws. That worked for a few days.

I recieved a replacement 5s and the finger print Id worked for a day or two and then I deleted the prints because they did not work, now theyt are working but it has only been a few hours.

I have to believe there is a problem with the hardware. Apple told me to make sure my hands are clean, that's bull, there is something wrong with their hardware and I had a 5 and if I knew the 5s was going to act this way I would never have purchase this 5s. The speed you can't notice so actually there is no reason to get a 5s. Now they are talking about the launch of the 6 possible in March, that *****

I think they should give anyone that purchased a 5s the ability to trade it in for a 6 if it comes out in March.

<Email Edited By Host>

nyfred wrote:

Now they are talking about the launch of the 6 possible in March, that *****

Not a snowball's chance in H*ll.

I think they should give anyone that purchased a 5s the ability to trade it in for a 6 if it comes out in March.

By what logic? And, ... good luck with that. 😁

No doubt. If Apple is true to history, we're looking at iPhone 6 late next year and 6S the following summer. Can't say I've ever regretted sticking to the Ss every other year. Though if they stick with TID, I imagine the print scanner on the 6 will be significantly more accomodating to different user styles.

3G: July 11, 2008

3GS: June 19, 2009

4: June 24, 2010

4S: October 14, 2011

5: September 21, 2012

5S: October 3013

6: September 2014

6S: October 2015

Yep. Sure enough after several days my replacement has now failed with Touch ID. I think it's best to just turn off this silly useless feature. It's apparent that it's just a gimmick to add to the iPhone 5S to sell. Not ready for real world use it seems.

I probably tend to agree with you there. I think touch ID is a bit of a gimmick thing and it was the only sure way to get people to upgrade to the 5S from a 5. A bit like Siri was when the 4S came out. Siri I'm sure most of you will agree was also a gimmick. How many of us really use it?

I love apple like we all do. I am happy with my 5S and glad I upgraded, but touch ID? Mmm not quite sure at the moment to be honest. It's a shame really to turn it off after all that new little button with the ring around it stares you in the face everytime we take our phone out of our pockets. I have had issues like we all have on here, but now I tend to stay away from the tip of my finger and since 7.0.3 it hasn't been too bad. I personally don't think it's responsive enough. It should really be as quick as when you toggle the reduce motion button on. But then again that's all part of the ios7 experience, so why should we turn it off?

I agree. Other than the silly Touch ID gimmick, everything else on the iPhone 5S is great. Fast too. I perceive zero lag with updated Apps and UI operations with it.

It's not a gimmick. It works well and provides added security to the phone.

After several weeks of initial issues with it, it now works perfectly for me thanks to the recent iOS update.

I registered my right thumb print within a couple days of getting the phone and it worked great. However, I turned off Touch ID as I don't use a security feature on my phone on a regular basis.

I heard about people having issues with it so I turned Touch ID back on to see if it worked....and sure enough it didn't. I deleted my stored fingerprint and tried to re-register a print. Now it won't even let me do that. It doesn't do anything when I try to register a print.

I guess it's good I wasn't using it.

3 days later and nose and fingertip prints are failing. For those still having problems, DO NOT use the very tip of a finger as it is most likely the root cause of your problem. While it appears to work for some, it's now proven to fail anywhere from hours to days later. This is also with 7.0.3.

See the picture I posted earlier in this thread of what NOT to scan.

As people are just not starting to get their 5S, these posts about "Touch ID doesn't work!" are going to grow. Nothing can be further from the truth. It does work, provided you do the initial scan properly. If it still fails, you probably have a defective phone. But if it works initially, but fails soon after, it's probably not the phone that's at fault.

Abrasha Staszewski wrote:

I was frustrated too since I got the phone and was even working with a 'Senior Specialist' at Apple 'Corporate Executive Relations' to resolve this. I was ready to throw the ****** phone against the wall. In my case 7.0.3 seems to have done the trick. Finger tips and all.

Did you send a complaint email to a Vice President or Time Cook at Apple? Normally, "Corporate Executive Relations" only gets involved when one contacts one of them.

Actually if it works and starts to fail a few days later it's the iPhone and iOS fault. Not the user. The user is at no fault whatsoever. Simply because it if works the first few days. Then one by one each finger profile begins to fail. So at fault is the iPhone or iOS itself.

Joe_Fo wrote:

As people are just not starting to get their 5S, these posts about "Touch ID doesn't work!" are going to grow. Nothing can be further from the truth. It does work, provided you do the initial scan properly. If it still fails, you probably have a defective phone. But if it works initially, but fails soon after, it's probably not the phone that's at fault.

I think that this is accurate. I have a replacement iPhone 5S (because of the TouchID problem) which seems to be working better. The initial scan does seem crucial. I'm not completely satisfied, but the combination of new hardware and iOS 7.0.3 seem to have helped things (knock on wood). With my previous iPhone, there were even times (admittedly rare) when it became completely unresponsive to fingerprint recognition -- no error message!

I also wonder how much the characteristics of one's skin affect recognition. I've never used the tip of my finger, but positioning seems to play a greater role than I would like.

Still, I don't really understand why recognition would be flawless initially and then become less reliable -- unless users are unconsciously changing the positioning of their fingers.

So of the, how many, 6 million 5S/5C sold, just because a handful of people say they can't get it to work reliably, and several say it works fine, it's the phone that's at fault?

It almost feels as if some here just don't want it to work...

If someone wants help with getting it to work, please post a pic as to how you are positioning your finger, with the fingerprint screen displayed, and I'll gladly help them. Saying "I've tried everything and it doesn't work" is not helpful to anyone.

I think it would help to post a YouTube video and link to it here. I think moving more than slightly during initial scan helps a lot with long term stability. Maybe if I get time tomorrow I'll look into it.