Having problems with Touch ID? Here’s a Simple Trick to Fix it

BY Jason

Published 30 Nov 2013

touch id

The Touch ID is great when it works, but a number of iPhone 5s users have complained that the fingerprint sensor fails to recognise the correct print on the first try. If you’re facing these accuracy issues, you can follow this simple tip to improve Touch ID on your iPhone 5s.

Apple lets you enrol up to five different fingers with Touch ID, so that you can unlock your iPhone with not just one, but multiple fingers. It turns out that, if you add the same finger multiple times Touch ID’s accuracy improves greatly. From Huffington Post:

I thought that having more — and more varied — prints of my thumb could only help, so I tried it by “enrolling,” as Apple calls it, my thumb two more times. The result was fantastic — Touch ID now works much better than it did before, probably over 90 percent of the time.

“Entering multiple examples of the same print enhances pattern matching. Basically, it enables the pattern matching to be more flexible.” Adding more prints can lower the rate of false rejects.

So all you need to do is follow these steps:

  • Launch the Settings app and navigate to General > Passcode & Fingerprint > Touch ID

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  • Enter the passcode if prompted
  • Tap on Fingerprints option

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  • Then tap on Add a fingerprint…

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  • Follow the on-screen instructions to add the fingerprint.

  • Add the fingerprint for the same finger again by repeating the steps mentioned above.

Let us know if you’ve noticed an improvement in Touch ID performance and accuracy by following this tip.

See also: Improve Touch ID accuracy and performance by rescanning your finger