"Unable to activate Touch ID on this iPhone"

This is the message I receive after every restart or hard reboot. Touch ID had been working just fine on my iPhone 6s Plus with 10.2.1, but just stopped. When I go into Touch ID & Passcode, "Add a Fingerprint..." is grayed out, and all toggles for what to use Touch ID are toggled off, and when I try to change them, to on, I get the message "Failed Unable to complete Touch ID setup. Please go back and try again."

From what I can find on these forums and online (Forbes has a couple of good articles on this), I do not appear to be alone with this issue, but I have yet to see any fixes.

iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 10.2.1

Posted on Mar 2, 2017 12:13 PM

Top-ranking reply

Lawrence Finch

Community+ 2025

Level 10

228,792 points

Posted on Jul 17, 2018 6:37 AM

If you are unable to activate Touch ID your phone has a hardware problem. There is no solution other than to have Apple repair it. The most common cause of this error is having the screen or HOME button replaced by an unqualified technician. In this case there is nothing you can do; Apple won't touch it if it has been repaired outside of Apple's repair service.

If the screen has never been replaced then it's just a random failure; make an appointment with an Apple store or Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP): Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

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112 replies

Jul 27, 2017 7:55 PM in response to rrbjr50

Hi, I have an iPhone 7 and I have the same problem. Since my home button isn’t actually controlled with “mechanism” it just simply doesn’t work anymore. The phone keeps sending me a notification about how it cannot enable Touch ID. I do not have Apple Care for my phone so if I bring it to the Apple Store will I have to pay?

Aug 18, 2018 5:33 PM in response to Airsculpture

No. Apparently you had an incompetent technician replace your screen, someone who did not know that you must reuse the HOME button when replacing the screen or it would cause permanent damage to the phone. You are now stuck. You should ask whoever did the botched repair to replace your phone.

Gus

Level 6

19,590 points

Mar 2, 2017 1:02 PM in response to rrbjr50

Yes I can understand the article. From my experience Forbes isn't really trustworthy. They make a small deal seem very big at times.

My advice is to take it to the Apple Store for an evaluation.

Mar 7, 2017 10:39 PM in response to rrbjr50

Same thing..

DebHnz

Level 1

4 points

Jun 15, 2017 10:03 PM in response to CavStorm

Tried and unsuccessful with Touch ID. Still fails to activate. Would be great if apple could provide solution!!!

Jul 18, 2017 7:53 PM in response to rrbjr50

Same with me,

couple days ago after in turn on my iPhone 6s the notif "Unable Touch ID in your phone"

that's very annoying, so many ways i tried to solved this problem but still not working,

Jul 18, 2017 7:57 PM in response to Yusufsyaif

Make an appointment at the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store or at an Authorized Apple Service provider. That sounds like a hardware problem.

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"Unable to activate Touch ID on this iPhone"