Q: Touch ID being Erratic

The point we should not forget guys is its a PHONE designed for Mr./Mrs. Everybody... you should not need to be a rocket scientist to get TID to work! ;-)

That is my issue with all this.... Regardless of if it works. If it requires a special, very precise process to actually work then Apple should design their learn mechanism to handle this and explain to the end user.

just my 2 Canadian cents! ;-) Me it works generally 7 out of 10 times... Would like more but its ok.

kheldan wrote:

 

[snip]

That is my issue with all this.... Regardless of if it works. If it requires a special, very precise process to actually work then Apple should design their learn mechanism to handle this and explain to the end user.

 

just my 2 Canadian cents! ;-) Me it works generally 7 out of 10 times... Would like more but its ok.

So if providing data in a logical manner, easily done BTW, gets a 99.9% hit rate, that's loonie? Or, should I say, 1/50 loonie?

Apple did not do a good job at all providing documentation on how to use TID. 100% agree.  But, it does work for many without detailed info, right?  And now that there are those of us who it does not work for as expected, there is a way to get great results.

So, we can bash Apple and others, or, change how we register a finger, and move on with life,

Now sure of the exchange rate today, so I'll offer my $.02 U.S.  And oh, wait, a Canadian not embracing Blackberry?  I thought that was illegal?!? 

;-) Agreed Joe! The community is doing great supporting each other but for a company selling devices at 1000$ lets face it Apple are doing a poor job communicating to their loyal customers. Knowledge Base Articles on this any many other small issues, if they existed, would clearly alleviate much of the frustrations. I've spent far too much time, like you investigating "issues" and "bugs" only to find its new functionality/features or ways of doing things that are simply not documented. Apple has grown significantly over the last decade and need to improve in this area. That is all I'm saying.

My career is Quality Assurance it is what I do, my company SQALogic is specialized in this very area! I often wish I knew who I could reach out to to help them in this area to establish industry leading quality control in the software they design before the negative press ends-up getting to them.

But don't get me wrong your process is a good one and I commend your efforts I just feel it should have came from Apple.

BTW, one thing I did uncover in my "testing" is the speed at which you press and release the home button. Fast click is really almost 100% flawless. I was a fraction of a second too slow and the phone was reading while too much pressure (flattening my print) was giving faulty readings. Rapid click works 100% of the time for me now. ;-)

Everyone;

It's been three days since I re-scanned my thumbprints following Joe's recommendations and video.  Worked great for these three days, but now once again it's starting to deteriorate again and working 50% of the time.  I don't know if it's due to changing environmental conditions (I live at 7200 ft elevation and the weather has changed recently) or something in iOS.  I did have a 2nd appointment at the Apple Genius store but I canceled it as it was working so well during the first 3 days. 

Now I'm hesitant to take it in and get another iPhone as that may not be the problem and will only complicate matters.

So, on day 4 it's gotten worse.  I'll keep posting my progress with this.  After reading all these threads I'm concluding that some peoples body chemistry, environmental conditions, and iOS issues are all contributing to this.

I've sent in a request to Apple to provide an option to lessen the "match" algorithm so that a user such as me can tweek in order to insure 99.5% success instead of <= 50%.

Steve

I'm curious.  How many of you would recommend taking into the Apple store vs. just waiting for an iOS fix?

I'm sure the algorithm dealing with altered-state prints will  improve; that’s  something the developers are likely working on. But the hardware v. software cause of false negatives is clearly a point of debate.

Bummer.

Curious: Was that finger the only one registered, and if so, only one instance?

Only the left thumbprint.  The rights always been about 70+% and pretty consistent so I thought it was a good benchmark against the left after re-scanning your method.  As I said, at 1st the left was 100% but now worse than the right.  Strange.

s

Just like a lot of others my touch id works great at first but after a day or so it fades away which I hope is fixed in a software update cuz it's very annoying

Sgh_aba wrote:

 

Everyone;

 

It's been three days since I re-scanned my thumbprints following Joe's recommendations and video.  Worked great for these three days, but now once again it's starting to deteriorate again and working 50% of the time.  I don't know if it's due to changing environmental conditions (I live at 7200 ft elevation and the weather has changed recently) or something in iOS.  I did have a 2nd appointment at the Apple Genius store but I canceled it as it was working so well during the first 3 days. 

 

Now I'm hesitant to take it in and get another iPhone as that may not be the problem and will only complicate matters.

 

So, on day 4 it's gotten worse.  I'll keep posting my progress with this.  After reading all these threads I'm concluding that some peoples body chemistry, environmental conditions, and iOS issues are all contributing to this.

 

I've sent in a request to Apple to provide an option to lessen the "match" algorithm so that a user such as me can tweek in order to insure 99.5% success instead of <= 50%.

 

Steve

 

I'm curious.  How many of you would recommend taking into the Apple store vs. just waiting for an iOS fix?

I've been to the apple store once for this and all they did was reset the phone. Given everything I've read about  TID problems, I think this is a software issue and I am waiting for an OS update  to see if that makes things better. If not, I would then exchange the phone (I have applecare so I'm not worried about the timing of the update, although I think that probably would not matter because my complaint about TID failing for me was documented within weeks of getting the phone).

So far I've not seen any responses to this thread where replacing the iPhone fixed the problem.  Anyone out there that had TID issues that were clearly fixed by replacment?

tia

Steve

I got my phone replaced a week ago after trying resetting, a restore, and just about everything else. So far so good.

Hi Joe

I'd like to thank you for your advice on entering finger prints.

When first set up phone as instructed by the phone screen the id worked approx 7/10 times but faded away after 1 or 2 hrs. However, after setting up as per your video its been working for 2 days quite well. Unfortunately if I'am out in the cold it works approx 3/10 times so points to skin condition eg outside my hands are a lot drier.

Once back indoors it starts to work far better. I set up with two prints as per your instructions but one slightly higher than the other.

I must say that I agree with some posters here who say Apple should give a statment on this matter & if they're working on the software otherwise it's sold 'not fit for purpose' in my opinion.

Frankswan wrote:

 

[snip]

Once back indoors it starts to work far better. I set up with two prints as per your instructions but one slightly higher than the other.

I must say that I agree with some posters here who say Apple should give a statment on this matter & if they're working on the software otherwise it's sold 'not fit for purpose' in my opinion.

Hi Frank,

If the two prints you setup are of the same finger, that's not something I believe should be done. You should only make one entry of the five available per finger. There are some who say multiple scans of the same finger works better for them, and others who say it still fails over time.  If anything, the more fingers scanned, even if only one finger per the available five, takes longer to process. My feeling is that it should be kept to as few as possible, and only one scan of any one finger.

It's not cold here yet, but I've tried to simulate it and could not get TID to fail. Will see in the next few weeks if that changes as it gets colder.

Hi guys, I'm not sure whether this would work but some guy from the apple retailer taught me to scan my finger more than once.That means having two or more copies of the same finger.