Touch ID doesn't always work

[dmw16]

I've had my iPhone 5S for about a week and I've noticed just today that the Touch ID is a little flakey. It's worked almost without fail up until now, but today it's taken to just not working. I did a hard restart and it was better and now it's acting up again.

Anyone else run into this?

 

[TheStu]

Some people, recommend scanning the same finger multiple times. So if you primarily use your thumb, and then maybe your index finger 2nd most, then scan the thumb 3 times, and your index finger twice. Maybe even from different angles.

 

[Printer Bandit]

make sure you don't have moisture on your finger. that messes it up.

 

[Ichinisan]

I had to delete the learned finger and have the phone re-learn it.

 

[Samastrike]

Try wiping the sensor, I find that if you have some grease etc on there then it's just not gonna work.

 

[DeeeV]

Same, one of my fingers (left thumb) stoped working. Deleted/readded it and it now works like it used to without any issues or lag.

 

[dmw16]

Thanks all. I guess it's just one of those things that a little finicky from time to time.

 

[boomhower]

Thanks all. I guess it's just one of those things that a little finicky from time to time.

It shouldn't. My wife's has been absolutely perfect. She's really finicky when it comes to technology. If it doesn't work 100% she won't use it. I set one of my fingers up on it as well and every time I've tried it's worked first time. If yours isn't I'd do an exchange if it continues after a retry at the set-up. Make sure you are doing it at several angles and the edges of your fingers as well. I hung onto my 5 but one of the things I am most looking forward to when I upgrade to the 6 is getting the fingerprint reader.

 

[Eug]

Mine was working great, but then with the colder weather and my much drier house these days, my skin got pretty dry and TouchID became more finicky. So, I deleted the ones for my most commonly used finger (thumb actually, and two entries for it: one for my thumb, and one for the mid-portion of my thumb) and redid it. Now it's much more reliable again.

I guess the accuracy may be partially affected by the hydration of the skin.

 

[Ichinisan]

Twice now I've gotten to the point where mine becomes difficult. After enduring it for a day or two, I delete and re-learn that finger and it works fine again.

I'm not talking about the brief difficulty you experience when your finger is wet.