I had the age problem also, but dryness can vary from season to season. I find touch ID may not work for months at a time, but then I try again (redoing my fingerprints), and it can work well for months at a time. It also seems that sometimes an operating system upgrade can lead to better Touch ID.
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Sooooooooooo, I THINK I found a solution to my Touch ID problem. I no longer allow it to automatically bring up the Home Screen. I am now required to push the home button. Yes I know this is extra work BUT my failure has (unscientifically determined) from 8out of every 10 tries to 1 out of every 20…
This gave me the idea of recording my fingerprints using the lightest possible pressure. I think that worked!
My attempts over the years to use Touch ID on 2 iPads and an iPhone worked for only 3 or 4 days after each attempt to record my fingerprints. So far it’s been working for two weeks.
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Glad to hear you found a solution.
I trained myself to do this on my iPhone years ago. Mostly because I kept on accidentally clicking the home button when I wanted to scan a fingerprint.
I started trying Touch ID on my wife’s old iPhone and it quickly failed both after I first set it up and after I went to the Apple Store and had them set it up for me. Now when I try it I get a message saying “your passcode is required to enable Touch ID.” Has it decided Touch ID won’t work for me? That seems to defeat the whole purpose of Touch ID.
I still was using an iPhone 7 Plus until recently and Touch ID worked well for the most part. However, if I had been working in the yard and my skin became rough it tended to have an issue sometimes but this was rare. After you restart the phone, you will see the message for the passcode or if it doesn’t recognize your print. I still use the iPhone as a remote control for iTunes but disabled the passcode to eliminate any issues.
If your fingers have significant callous or you have very dry skin, it can impede electrical conductivity. This prevents the flow of electricity. So you can end up mashing away on the phone or tablet in vain with your ‘Zombie Finger’.
If you have dry skin due to a lack of humidity, consider getting a humidifier Keep it between 45-60% humidity and drink plenty of water. If your urine runs clear you are properly hydrated. It can help a great deal. You’ll also avoid nose bleeds and sinus issues in very dry conditions.
As for guitarists, consider a lighter gauge string. It’s technically a myth that heavy gauge strings sound better. Especially on electric. Billy Gibbons used very heavy strings and he met B.B. King who asked him why he’s working so hard to bend the strings. Billy changed to a much lighter string. There was no difference in his ‘tone’. The 1950’s electrics used 8 gauge ultralight strings. However 9 gauge is what I use and it is very comfortable. You may need a Luther to adjust the guitar for the lighter gauge strings. Or if you were to mix light and heavier strings. B.B. King experimented quite a bit. His signature Gibson strings were .010, .013, .017, .030, .044, .054.
Try a collagen supplement powder. Like Vital Proteins which can be bovine or fish based. 4 scoops per day into your coffee (no taste, dissolves instantly). After a few months you’ll notice your skin improves, your hair grows faster, and all the clicks and pops and joint pain went away. Here’s some facts about collagen:
You may already know this, but the first time you try to use touch ID after shutting down your device, it requires the password in order to use Touch ID. At least that seems to be the case for me.
David
That’s indeed always the case. Same for FaceID. Also, at least once every week, you’ll be required to authenticate with passcode even if TouchID is enabled and working fine.
This message pops up for two reasons:
- The first time you unlock the phone after rebooting it.
- Approximately one week after the last time you unlocked the phone with the passcode.
The idea is that, should your phone be stolen and your fingerprint was somehow compromised, the thief won’t be able to use it for a long time without eventually needing the passcode. (You can’t change the passcode or re-register fingerprints without having the passcode.)
FaceID systems work the same way.
There’s a different, but similar message that pops up if your fingerprint (or face for FaceID) fails a few times, also requiring your passcode to continue. Again, it’s for security reasons. If someone tries and fails a few times, the system assumes that it may be an attacker and disables biometric IDs until a valid passcode is provided.
Nothing wrong with your device or its configuration. That’s how Touch/Face ID is supposed to work.
I hadn’t realized that, but it’s still odd because I haven’t been able to get Touch ID to open the iPhone by itself for weeks. I touch it 2 or 3 timess, then it asks me to enter the Passcode. My wife hadn’t been able to get Touch ID to work, but it wasn’t surprising because she had problems fingerprint ID required by the school where she worked. From some digging around I’ve found Touch ID often doesn’t work for older people, and we’re in our 70s.
Touch ID works fine on iPhone & iPad, but I’ve just recently lost that capability on my M2 Mac Mini with its Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. An older A2449 Magic Keyboard – and its Touch ID has worked fine for several years on different Macs from a MacBook Pro (used in clamshell mode) to the M2 Mini.
Just recently stopped working, within the last week I think; not certain whether that coincided with the installation of MacOS 15.5.
Have tried everything described in the Apple Support article, but no joy.
At this point, after deleting my finger and trying to add another, System Settings isn’t even offering Touch ID but using my Apple Watch to unlock the Mac, etc., instead.