“Am I the only one disappointed by Touch ID on the new iPhone 5S? ” Anthony Wing Kosner writes for Forbes. “My own experience has been that it worked great the first day after I got the phone and almost not at all since. So I feel a little like I’ve been duped into actually using a passcode (which I never did before) so that I could use this cool new feature (score one for the added security benefits of touch ID!) But then it stopped working. So after five tries (or before) I punch in my passcode. I do that a lot.”
“Did I try rescanning my fingerprints? Yes. Updating my system software? Yes. Resetting to factory setting and starting out with a clean install and not using a backup because it could mess up the firmware?” Kosner writes. “No, not yet. Too much work.”
“If you go to Apple’s support discussions and search Touch ID, the top hit is entitled Touch ID being erratic. It is not a well travelled thread which would indicate that there are not massive numbers of people having the problem OR that not enough users are sufficiently annoyed (yet) to be posting on this forum,” Kosner writes. “But what I found there was essentially my story. It worked well at first and then became erratic.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: All of our iPhone 5s units’ Touch ID systems work perfectly. Nothing erratic at all. Zero issues.
Worked fine for me until I damaged my thumb print. I had to use my left thumb until my right one healed. Then I deleted old print and re-scanned it and it work fine again. Scans 1st touch 90% of the time. Sometimes I have to reposition.
Writer is doing it all wrong. First he needs to shove it up his butt to moisten it, then the scan button should be able to pick up his load of crap and authenticate him as THE LOAD OF CRAP. Then it will unlock his phone.
Has worked perfectly since day one. No issues.
No problems here at all. FUD
No probs here either.
Waiting for to come on all Apple devices…
Zero issues here
no problems with mine
What are the odds that the unit happens to belong to a Forbes writer. When you cry wolf all the time, I hope you don’t expect us to take your word at face value. And then citing an unscientific online poll to arrive at a 23% failure rate doesn’t help his credibility.
The guy’s not an idiot. It does fail for many users. It’s great that you assholes haven’t had any issues yet but don’t assume that it’s because he’s an idiot. You arrogant buffoons give iOS users (and Mac users, and fanboys in general) a bad name.
Touch ID has worked flawlessly for me until yesterday. No idea why, but last night it started failing and asking for a retry about 90% of the time. This morning I deleted my fingerprints and started over, and now it’s working fine again.
Touch ID is supposed to continue to refine its matching signature for your print over time. It’s possible that the learning algorithms is wrong. Maybe it becomes too restrictive, giving more false negatives over time. Who knows.
But (a) it’s a real problem, and (b) Apple will fix it.
Grow up, children.
Works for me first time 85% of the time even after 2 hours in the pool.
Works fine here, too. I had to rescan one finger. I have both index fingers and right thumb programmed, and is so much better than pass code. Not the left thumb, as I found I don’t want it auto-unlocking when just holding it in left hand and waking up the home screen! Think of use cases when you choose fingers.
It works about 95% of the time. However, I’m sure it takes longer than typing in my code. It is very laggy even though it does work most of the time.
I’ve been an Apple loyalist since getting my first IIGS. Early adapter of every iPhone. So I’m not a hater, OK? However, I’ve also found that the 5S is “forgetting” my fingerprints after about 48 hours. I’ve reset the phone and also done a complete restore of the software, each resulting in only a temporary fix. Maybe mine’s a bad unit. A thread on MacInsider relates that Apple is aware of the problem and working on a software fix.
I’ll see what the folks at the Genius Bar say.
No issues!
Me and my wife have been using our 5S’ with fingerprint since last month, no issues at all. Simple setup and invisible to use, it’s second nature now and very satisfying. Couldn’t be happier. I’m really annoyed with my finger scanner door lock now, it should work like the 5S.
75% at best. Doesn’t like sweat, oil, anything on the sensor. Have rescanned multiple times. Maybe it’s a bad unit.
I love it. Works prerfectly every single time.
I have five new 5S phones for my small business. They work like a charm.
Not a single issue, and with multiple fingers.
Mine works.
works perfectly.
In my family we have 3 iPhones 5s. No one of us ever had a problem with fingers ID. It’s very important, when setup to do a good scanning. Once done, peace of mind and never need password again, except after reboot.
Ivanich
It hasn’t worked at all on my phone…. Ever!
Oh. Wait. iPhone 5. S.
Oh, sorry. I only have a 4s……..
i find that coating my thumbs with a sticky resin of unmentionable origin makes the scanner erratic. damn Apple!
Mine works perfectly. No issues at all!