Q: Touch ID Problem

I am very hopeful. The source I read said that it fixes Touch ID problems for a "small number of users" with "unusual usage patterns". That puts the problem outside the hardware (I'm on phone 3 so it can't be the hardware), and explains why it does not affect everyone. I really hope it works, since I tested the last variable I could think of yesterday at work. I tried setting the fingerprint while the phone was only on cellular and then checking it throughout the day. If anything the fingerprint recognition dissolved faster on cellular, so that was not it.

Let's keep our Apple-rejected fingers crossed.

Didn't get any notification of the update. Thank you! I am downloading it now and we have snow here so I have the whole day at home to see if the fingerprints stay. Did it fix yours?

Well, I certainly didn't need a whole day. Started failing again after an hour. Before, the fingerprints lasted a few hours.

I have Touch ID!!!!!!!

I made yet another appointment for the Genius Bar after I did the update and Touch ID appeared to be worse. So the next day I brought the phone to work and I set up a fingerprint and checked it every few minutes so I could document exactly how long the fingerprint recognition lasted. Guess what? I had perfect Touch ID for the entire work day! This was Touch ID like I have never experienced it since I got the phone. Worked in one, or at most, 2 tries EVERY time.

I live in New England. It is very cold here lately. I put on my coat and gloves and hiked a few blocks to the car. No TouchID. And then the Eureka moment. It -IS- me, sort of. I have Reynauds syndrome, which makes me lose circulation in my hands when I am cold. I keep my house fairly warm but I still have to wear sweaters. My fingers can turn white even at 65 degrees sometimes. They haven't been THAT visibly cold in my previous attempts to use TouchID, but apparently cold enough to diminish the blood supply near the skin surface that TouchID needs to function. Work was unusually warm yesterday and that's why it worked.

This explains why changing hardware does not help. It explains why it happens only to a small subset of users. This even explains the weird episode I had where Touch ID was gone but came back after about a minute with my finger resting on the sensor. The phone warmed up my finger enough to make the Touch ID recognize it.

There isn't a whole lot of info on the "subdermal" part of the tech. But I did remember reading awhile back about how it would not work with a dead finger. Google "Touch ID dead finger" if you are interested in that part of the tech. Apparently, sometimes my phone thinks I am dead.

Here is another thing I discovered. If I do get a failure, I'm hosed for getting it to work again until I reboot the phone. Then, if my fingers are warm enough, it works again.

I have had glorious Touch ID for 16 hours now. It has survived multiple hand washings, hours of phone inactivity, and a charge.

One more thing I have learned is that if you have enough failed touches in a row, and "enough" does not seem to be very many, your fingerprints are deactivated. There is nothing you can do to bring them back. This seems like some kind of security thing. So now, if a reboot does not bring them back I don't waste a lot of time trying to get them to work. I just redo it.

I have to say this is very impractical. If you have a circulation problem you can only use it when the climate is perfect. You can't touch it in the cold for fear too many bad touches will destroy the fingerprints. There ought to be a software switch to turn off the subdermal recognition at least for phone unlocking. Also there should be a switch to choose how many bad touches cause the fingerprints to be permanently disabled.

I have to wonder how physically diverse the testing base was. Raynaud's occurs in 5% of the population.

Maybe, but my Touch ID stop working on my iPhone 6 with iOS 8.1.3

If it does not recognize once or twice and I have to put in my password instead, at that point if I reboot the phone, it will recognize again. But if I don't reboot the phone I will not get the recognition to work again.

If I forget and make say 4 attempts to unlock with recognition and they all fail in a row, the stored fingerprints will never work again even after a reboot. By never I mean you can go to the Touch ID setup screen and put your finger on the sensor 100 times and none of the stored fingerprints will light up. I am guessing that this is some kind of misguided security feature.

Since I never know when my recognition is going to fail, it really isn't practical to use still. I would have to set up new fingerprints every day. And I can't possibly be the only one who is physically unable to use it. Some people probably just don't know what the problem really is, or it's not important to them so they shrug and give up.

This actually could be fixed with software preferences. You should be able to select just optical recognition for phone unlock. That's the old-fashioned kind the police have been using for years. I can see why banks would expect the stronger kind, but geez I just want to unlock my phone easily. Also, if turning off the stored prints for good IS an intentional security feature, it ought to be a preference.

Hey EDLIU, I thought yours was finally fixed. Are you having problems again, even after 8.1.3?

Hey Edliu,

I called apple support here in Brazil today and they asked me to reset the phone.

But it doesn't worked, so I'll have to take it to one of apple resellers here. My iPhone 6 was bought Jan/24 and I'll have to wait 20 business day to have a new one.. =S

The problem is that it was working and stopped from nothing. I put my finger to assign a new fingerprint after the reset and it doesn't even detects my finger (two taps on home button doesn't bring the screen down also). So, I believe it's a hardware problem. =/