Requirement to enter passcode every 48 hours

We rolled out iPhones at work recently with AirWatch and noticed this phenomenon when people don't use their phones over the weekend and forget their new passcodes on Monday. They are still on 8.4.1.

This has not happened to my personal iPhone (9.1) until this morning and I upgrade regularly. I have used touch ID a lot in the last 48 hours, and have not rebooted recently, so entering the passcode should not have been necessary. I downloaded the AirWatch agent to it to test BYOD, but deleted it weeks ago. I've also had a work email profile set up for years, but it uses the Outlook Web Access connection.

At any rate - it doesn't appear to be a corporate-only policy. Apple says, "To configure Touch ID, you must first set up a passcode. Touch ID is designed to minimize the input of your passcode; but your passcode will be needed for additional security validation:

• After restarting your device
• When more than 48 hours have elapsed from the last time you unlocked your device
• To enter the Touch ID & Passcode setting"

About Touch ID security on iPhone and iPad - Apple Support

I suggest reading the rest of the thread, as it explains the issue and what others have observed.

Apple support page About Touch ID security on iPhone and iPad - Apple Support

this says if you haven't used your device for 48 you will be required to enter your passcode. I however get this randomly even though I use my phone multiple times a day. I believe this is a bug.

Thanks for repeating what has been said over a dozen times in the message thread you just replied to.

If you can't say something constructive don't say anything at all Troll!

TThe point is that if you have a problem read the thread. I'm amazed how people are dealing with this issue. I tried an AppleCare fix and it worked.

PEOPLE. DO A SOFT RESET!

or wait until there's an update to fix the Open Ticket Apple has on this bug.

BUt first read the thread!

I don't have a problem, nor the time to read numerous pages of a forum thread, I just Googled the 48 hr thing to find out what it was and why it was happening, saw the link I posted and this thread. I chose to post the information I had out of the goodness of my heart in the the hope that it may help. I don't need sanctimonious people like yourself with your negative attitudes replying to me in this way. If my posts bother you ignore them!

Your point is appropriate. The excessive angst for others in the user community on this thread has been disappointing. It was also reinforced by another poster, who impatiently insisted that everybody should just do a "soft reset" to fix their problem, when some of us had already been down that road without resolution. The fact is that the more activity in a thread, with additional users reporting the problem, creates more attention for the topic, which is not a bad thing. The real angst needs to be focused on Apple, and probably more specifically Tim Cook, who may be less demanding of quality standards from the C-suite position than his predecessor. Maybe it's time for Apple to swap leadership for a techie nerd, someone who believes the nuts and bolts are actually important enough to get right, someone who actually uses a notebook computer to do real work each day, rather than a finger-painting tablet device. They're even missing on the simple stuff at the root design level these days. Look at the iphone 6 and 6s with the volume buttons directly opposite the power button, making it much more difficult to operate with one hand in a pinch manner, a problem first introduced with the release of the iphone 6. That's a core ergonomic engineering design principle that they failed. Seriously, who approves this stuff? At the same time, Apple is an unfortunate product of their own success, a victim of Wall Street's insatiable desire for overly demanding annual product release schedules, for which Apple clearly can't keep up. Just watch what happens to their stock price if they {shudder} don't release a new iteration of their flagship iphone one October. It is at this point that Apple no longer operates by their original ideals and corporate mission, producing products that "just work", rather feeding the beast enough quantity, no matter the quality.

So, to anyone else experiencing one of the numerous glitches in their Apple consumer gadgets, please post reports of your product problems freely on these discussion forums, and maybe one day Apple will rediscover how to release a product when Apple is ready, not when Wall Street demands. And maybe one day others in the community will consistently respond with patience, kindness, and helpful information, rather than berating those who come seeking information and assistance.

Except that it's a waste of time both to the poster and the reader, because Apple does not read or respond in the forum. If you want to get Apple's attention use the Contact Us link at the bottom of every Apple site page or use http://Apple.com/feedback

I appreciate your view, but that's not my experience with these discussion forums. When Apple was having tons of problems with iCloud and iMessage and FaceTime authentication, during the rollout of 2-factor, Apple tech resources contacted me directly from one of my posts on this discussion forum, so that they could run trace diagnostics on my desktop platform, as they gathered symptoms and behaviors of the problem. So while these forums are not officially moderated by any Apple employees, to suggest that they don't read or respond to these forums is just not entirely accurate. Does Apple read these forums? Yes. Is it common that a user would be contacted by Apple as in my situation from these forums? I doubt it. But I fully agree with your advice for users to use the Apple feedback mechanism, or contact Apple Support directly, as the best means to resolution.

As I said, Apple does not read the forums. With a possible thousands of posts a day (this is the busiest support forum in the world) they would need a huge team to do it. There are a small number of moderators ("hosts"), and even they do not read the forum messages unless one is reported by a user for being abusive or in violation of TOU. Anyone with over 150 points has a button to report a post. The hosts are just that; they are not in Engineering and don't even have direct access to engineering. Their only job is to keep the forums polite and in line. They will read a reported post and decide what to do about it; the choices are ignore it, edit it, or hide it.

Occasionally when a post or thread describes a common problem either a user will contact Applecare support for help with the problem, and may reference a message thread, or a level 6 or higher (7,000 points) may bring it to the attention of the hosts, who will attempt to forward it to engineering. Once at or above level 6 users have access to a private forum where they can communicate directly with hosts and forum managers, and even meet some face-to-face in "Meet-ups" that occur periodically around the world. (Nothing secret about this, BTW; there's a description of the point system in the forum online documentation.) It is in discussions with the hosts that the question of Apple reading the forums has been covered; that's where the information above comes from. Apple employees are users, too, and may visit the forum as users, but they are never identified as employees when in this role. As annoying as the 48 hour problem is, it is not a critical bug that is preventing the use of iOS or even a significant function of iOS, so I think it is unlikely that Apple Engineering will be scouring the forum for it.

There is one other exception to "Apple does not read the forums": "Community specialists." These are Apple employees whose job it is to respond to questions that have had no responses for a period of time, usually 24 hours. They do not read the forum either. They have a queue of messages that have not had any responses. They work under strict limitations; all they are allowed to do is reply with links to published Apple Knowledge Base articles. They cannot join in discussions or answer based on their own knowledge.

I stand by my prior post.

technonut wrote:

I stand by my prior post.

Okay.

Some Apple employees may poke around, but it’s not their job to dig thru the forums.

Do not rely/expect/hope that posting here will do anything except get responses from other users.

Do not rely/expect/hope Apple will see it and contact you or even bring it to anyone’s attention (i.e. Apple software engineering).

If you wish to bring something to Apple’s attention, post feedback or contact Apple support (not these forums) directly.

I think that's consistent with what I said above, using different words. But if that helps everybody understand it better, then great.

I experienced this bug for the first time this morning, but it went a step further. The iPhone 6S Plus not only wouldn't take my Touch ID, it also said my passcode was wrong. I entered it correctly several times, until the phone was disabled. I ultimately had to reset the phone and restore from a backup.

My phone was not on the charger last night, which is unusual. Otherwise, everything was as normal as possible. I had used the phone less than 6 hours before the bug popped up.

Until I found this thread, I was pretty sure my phone was haunted, today being Friday the 13th....