IPhone 6s fingerprint customize. Included Touch ID. Fingerprint for iPhone protection. How to fix "Failed to activate Touch ID on this iPhone" problem

Touch ID has become a truly revolutionary technology for the entire iPhone line. From the moment the technology was first presented at the presentation, unlocking the device has become not only safe, but also as convenient as possible. There are a huge number of uses for Touch ID besides unlocking the gadget. In this article, we will explain what Touch ID is, how it works, and where it is applied.

Touch ID is a fingerprint scanner used in iPhones and other Apple products. The first time Apple added it to the iPhone 5S was in 2013. Since then, for 5 years now, this technology has been actively used in iPhones, iPads and even MacBooks.

Touch ID allows you to unlock your device with just a touch of a dedicated surface. In mobile devices it is the Home button, in MacBooks it is the key.

After its appearance, Touch ID quickly gained great popularity, because you no longer need to enter long passwords to unlock your smartphone for a couple of seconds. They put a finger and in a moment the device is available for use.

How does Touch ID work and how it works

There are currently two generations of Touch ID. They differ in the speed of reading data and therefore faster unlocking. The second generation began to be embedded starting with the iPhone 6S, and the unlocking speed there is really faster.

The Touch ID sensor is built into the Home button and covered with a sapphire crystal. This allows you to reliably protect the scanner from minor mechanical damage. A built-in sensor scans the pad of your finger and recognizes the pattern on it. In addition, it doesn't matter at what angle you put your finger: top, bottom, side - the device is easily unlocked. You can add multiple fingers at once to unlock the device with either hand.

What is Touch ID for

Touch ID secures multiple processors and speeds up authentication. As we said, the first and main task is to unlock the device. You set up a passcode and set up the fingerprint reader. When you cannot use Touch ID (wet hands, etc.), just enter the password. Touch ID helps you pay with Apple Pay. When you want to check out in a store using your iPhone, you need to double-tap the Home button to launch the Apple Pay app and Touch ID to verify that you are the one making the purchase. If yes, the payment will pass. If not, it will throw an error.

Further, Touch ID is used in the App Store. The first time you buy an app (paid or free - it doesn't matter), iPhone will ask you to put your finger on the Home button to confirm the action. When uninstalling an application or game and then installing it, you do not need to scan your finger.

The last common use for Touch ID is to sign in to apps. Usually these are banking services, access to which is undesirable for unauthorized persons. When entering such applications, the system asks for a password or use Touch ID. The second option, as we have already seen, is much more convenient.

In addition, Touch ID allows you to confirm actions with iCloud. The most common use case - if you want to view all saved passwords from sites - confirm the action with a fingerprint scanner.

How to set up Touch ID

For the best effect and to avoid further inconvenience, make sure your hands are clean and that the button itself is not "splattered". Go to “Touch ID & Passcode” settings and enter your passcode. Click Add Fingerprint. Then lightly touch the Home button with one finger.

The system will need a few of these touches to fully read your fingerprint. Each time slightly change the position of your finger - the figure will show which area has already been scanned, and which requires additional touches. After everything is ready, the system will report success. Likewise, you can add a new fingerprint or use only one.

We recommend that you indicate the names of prints if there are several of them. Since later, when you notice that the system does not recognize the index finger well, it will be quite difficult to immediately understand which fingerprint to change.

Apple provides users of its technology with a large number of functions designed to ensure complete security and protect the device from penetration of unwanted persons. One such add-on is Touch ID.

What is Touch ID

Touch ID is a password that can be set to unlock the device or to access some applications. Unlike previously existing passwords, which were a combination of numbers or a key sign, Touch ID verifies the fingerprints of the person trying to unlock the phone or tablet and compares them to the fingerprints stored in the device's memory. If they match, then the unlocking is successful, but if Touch ID suspects that the device is being hacked, it will go into lock mode. The user has three attempts to prove their identity using unique fingerprints.

The advantage of this technology is that it is the most reliable way to block access to your device or individual programs. If the phone or tablet is stolen, then it will be very difficult for an attacker to get him out of the blocking state.

Touch ID first appeared on the iPhone 5S and is present on all subsequent phone models. This technology is also available on the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.

How to enable, disable, and set up Touch ID on an iPhone

Before activating Touch ID, it is recommended that you restart the device, close all applications and wash your hands, since the first time you turn it on, you will need to add fingerprints, and if they are indistinct, then in the future there may be problems with unlocking the device.

  1. Open the "Settings" application.
  2. Let's move on to the Touch ID and Passcode section.
  3. Press the button "Add fingerprint". Detailed instructions for adding a fingerprint will appear on the device screen. You will need to apply your finger several times, raising and lowering it at the right time. Take your device the way you would normally hold it. Do not put your finger evenly or at a certain angle, place it on the Home button the way you usually put it in everyday use.
  4. If it seems to you that the print turned out to be inaccurate, then find it in the "Imprints" block and swipe over it from right to left. The "Delete" button will appear, which must be pressed to erase the print.
  5. You can click on the name of the received fingerprint to set any other name.
  6. Now let's activate the "Unlock iPhone" function if you want the device to unlock only after a touch of your finger.
  7. Activate the "iTunes Store, App Store" feature if you want your fingerprint to be requested when entering the store.
  8. If you want to disable Touch ID technology on your device, then deactivate the above two functions.

What to do if a feature stops working or crashes

Some users experience problems immediately after enabling Touch ID, and some after a few days or months. The problem may be as follows: Touch ID does not work, stops working, does not work the first time, does not work correctly. To get rid of all the above problems, you need to do the following:

  1. Restart the device by holding down the Lock and Home buttons simultaneously for 8-10 seconds.
  2. Open the Settings app.
  3. Go to the Touch ID & Passcode section.
  4. Delete any existing prints. To do this, first click on the name or fingerprint number.
  5. In the tab that opens, click the "Delete fingerprint" button. Repeat this operation for all prints.
  6. Click the Add Fingerprint button. Follow all the instructions that appear on the device screen: remove and reapply your finger, lean the tip or middle of your finger, rotate, and others. Repeat this process with each finger.

What to Do When Fingerprint Reader Doesn't Work Well - video

If fingerprint recovery did not help fix the problems with Touch ID, you need to take the device to a service in order to get advice from a qualified specialist and, possibly, send the device for repair, since the reason is most likely in the stuffing of the phone or tablet. If you have jailbroken your device's firmware using Jailbreak, then this may be the reason. Also, the reason may be in the IOS version, you need to install the latest firmware on your device for Touch ID to work correctly.

Greetings! The article is dedicated to the upcoming New Year holidays, and at any other time, I think, the information will be quite relevant and useful. Why did this instruction appear at all? The thing is that now on the market there are just a lot of offers for the sale of an iPhone with an inoperative Apple ID fingerprint sensor. No, seriously, not only the entire Internet is littered with such devices, but also numerous "real" points of sale.

And the most pleasant thing in this whole situation is the price. Oh yeah! Everything is very good here. Indeed, for such, at first glance, seemingly insignificant malfunction (and a non-functioning scanner is a breakdown), a rather large discount is offered on the iPhone itself. Why not take it? Let's figure it out together why you don't need to take ...

What is usually sold:

  1. iPhone (any model) with a non-functional fingerprint reader.
  2. The price for it is less (sometimes significantly) than for a similar product only with a functioning sensor.
  3. The seller assures that this is a new and absolutely normal iPhone - it is just refurbished (REF).

And because of the third point, confusion begins, because many have heard that Apple is releasing refurbished devices on the market. And this is so, only they have nothing to do with the iPhone with a broken finger sensor ...

iPhone without Touch ID - Officially Refurbished or Not?

No no and one more time no. Officially refurbished iPhones, so called "as new", are fully functional devices. Everything works for them - from the battery to the notorious fingerprint sensor. They are produced at the Apple factory, tested, have a one-year warranty (and in it is two years) and are supplied through official sales channels to dealers for sale. In general, they are all OK. I already wrote about such devices - in the comments there are a lot of interesting things directly on the topic of this article.

Important! On the new original, real, factory (call it what you want) iPhone - the fingerprint sensor will always work. Always. If during the sale it is indicated that the device is new and from the factory, but the scanner does not work for it, they are lying to you.

But the iPhone without Touch ID (also supposedly officially restored) is a completely different story. Where, and most importantly, what are they collected from? It is very difficult to find out specifically and for certain, but in general terms I will tell you now.

iPhone with a broken scanner - what is it and where does it come from?

So, we have found out that such devices are not produced by Apple, so where do they come from? Everything is very simple, these are ordinary used gadgets, only assembled from several devices. So to speak "restored" by various craftsmen. A little more detail, for example:

You have several iPhones with different breakdowns - one does not have a display, the second is flooded with water, the third is doing well, "only" the motherboard is broken. You take all three, combine, parts of which you are not buying from the Chinese - here you have a "refurbished" iPhone.

It is clear that options are possible, but in general terms it looks like this.

And why the fingerprint scanner does not work for these iPhones, is it difficult for the Chinese to fix it? Yes, it's hard, and this is connected with this:

The motherboard and Home button (where the sensor is located) for one particular iPhone (the official one coming out of the factory) are one piece. If you substitute a button from another phone, the sensor stops working. This is done so that no one can hack your iPhone simply by connecting another button to it. Safety and security above all!

This bundle can only be “broken” at the Apple plant, which is what they do in the production of officially refurbished iPhones - where, I repeat, absolutely everything works.

Pros and cons of iPhone with broken Touch ID - can you buy it?

If you have not yet decided whether or not to buy such a device, then here is a list of the positive and negative aspects of such an event. Let's start with the cons. So, if the scanner does not work, then this means:

  • What the iPhone figured out exactly - it is not known by whom and how.
  • It is also assembled from what is not clear - spare parts can be both original and "Chinese".
  • Considering the two previous points, even if now everything is working in it (except for the sensor), it is still a "time bomb" - any component of such an iPhone can malfunction and stop working at any time.
  • Inability to use Apple services tied to a fingerprint (the same Apple Pay). In general, the security of your personal data is at great risk.

Are there any advantages? Yes, there are two of them:

  • Price - the cost of an iPhone with a defective scanner is always less (otherwise who will buy them?).
  • You may get lucky and come across a good device (more likely no than yes).

Hopefully everyone should now have the right opinion about the advisability of buying an iPhone with a disabled Touch ID sensor. If it didn’t work out, then I’ll tell you: buying such a device is a very big lottery with a minimal chance of winning, but with a huge opportunity to just throw money away.

Updated! As I wrote, buying an iPhone without Touch ID is a big lottery. In my opinion, there is no point in playing it. Moreover, when buying a normal iPhone, you can save money. How? Instructions:

  1. Among the stores you know, we find the one where the price of the iPhone is cheaper, and the refund for the purchase is more.
  2. Victory.

That's all - enjoy the phone and the money saved.

P.S. Agree that the information is useful - like the article, do a good deed :) And of course, write your questions in the comments. I will answer everyone!

Changing the design one by one, improving productivity and demonstrating new interesting features and technologies that provide a comfortable use of the phone. However, engineers, designers and other equally important employees of the Cupertin company find it difficult and very difficult to invent a new design for the iPhone every year. So in the line of Apple smartphones appeared a permanent model with the prefix "S" at the end (and later "C"). These phones practically did not differ from their predecessors last year in appearance, however, they surpassed them in power and other parameters that are so important for many geeks.

In addition to the above, the improved iPhone models had a certain "chip" - a function or technology that encourages people to buy. The 4S had it, which played the role of a voice assistant quite well, although it was able to communicate only in English from the very beginning, and the iPhone 5S proudly demonstrated an innovative fingerprint scanner Touch ID, allowing you to put reliable protection on your smartphone from prying eyes and hands, but is the technology of scanning prints so important and what negative and positive aspects does it entail? I will try to thoroughly understand all this in this article.

How it all began or who was the first to use an analogue of Touch ID

iPhone 5S currently demonstrates excellent performance in recognizing your fingerprints to protect data, but it is worth mentioning and telling who was the first to apply the mentioned technology and felt all the pitfalls of the mobile device market.

The pioneer was the South Korean company Pantech, which in the distant 2004 introduced a new model of a cell phone, referred to as the Gl100. The phone at that time had a fairly high-quality screen, a camera, but unlike other devices, it had a fingerprint scanner that allows you to hide numbers and other information.


The scanner was located directly at the top of the screen in the middle of the navigation buttons (up, down, left, etc.). To recognize the fingerprint, an ordinary user had to slide his finger across the surface of the scanner at an average speed for an accurate result. According to the assurances, this operation should have lasted 3-4 seconds, however, harsh practice showed that unlocking the phone with your finger took a considerable 14-15 seconds, therefore, using the revolutionary technology delivered to ordinary users much more discomfort than convenience. Also, throwing stones in the direction of Pantech Gl100, I will mention that all hidden information in the phone could also be copied by synchronizing with a computer. It was one of the first attempts to bring fingerprint recognition technology to a mobile device.

Later, other equally well-known companies introduced an analogue of Touch ID into their devices, but in the end they ran into multiple technical problems and malfunctions. It seemed that over time the idea became obsolete and the market no longer needed devices with a fingerprint scanner, but the situation was suddenly changed by Apple.

The emergence of Touch ID

Rumors about the introduction of Touch ID appeared on the web long before the release. I tried hard not to believe it. An attempt by Pantech is firmly entrenched in my memory, however, despite all my skepticism, the guys from Cupertino still presented the iPhone 5S, which had a much more powerful processor, improved camera, coprocessor, and most importantly - an excellent scanner for your fingerprints. Right at the presentation, they showed us how easy and convenient it is to use the new Touch ID, how it will make it easier for us to use our smartphone and how we used to live without it, but aside all this rotten sarcasm and talk about facts.

At the time of release, users could enter several fingerprints into the iPhone 5S database at once to resolve family issues. It is unlikely that someone will be pleased when his child comes up every minute with a request to unlock the phone, there are many similar situations. Functionally, the scanner allowed you to unlock your smartphone with your finger, as well as bind your fingerprint to, which made it possible not to enter your account password every time you purchase an application or other media content from the AppStore.


In addition to all of the above, the iPhone will be guaranteed to be protected in case of its possible theft or loss - all your data will be protected. On that note, the list of Touch ID features ends. By comparison, Siri had a lot more functionality when 4S was released. Yes, they did not understand and still does not understand the great and mighty Russian, but the voice assistant could launch the application, find a restaurant nearby, tell about the upcoming weather and more, and Siri basics are already used in cars running iOS Car, but back to main ...

Touch ID and tracking paranoia

Quite often, there were rumors and theories on the network that Apple was deliberately conducting covert surveillance of users through mobile gadgets and not only, and many of these guesses were quite confirmed to themselves. News comes to mind about iPhone location tracking and the sudden activation of the iSight camera on Mac computers.

The iPhone 5S suffered the same fate, and literally after a while, bloggers began to claim that the Apple company scans users' fingerprints and transfers them to special services. Tim Cook replied without delay that all of the fingerprint data is stored inside the Touch ID itself and cannot be copied - this is an obvious answer. After all, for the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, it is important to appease their customers and instill in them a sense of security. Hardly any of you can imagine how Tim Cook at the next presentation or interview says: " Yes, we are following you carefully and all your fingerprints have already been sent to the special services for entering them into a special database. Good luck everyone and buy our new iPhone 5S".

I will lean towards the option of possible surveillance by Apple. Indeed, very recent events in the world hint at precisely such methods of combating terrorism for our own protection. It is worth remembering how, last year, FBI officers carefully pursued a group of persons involved in the terrorist attack in Boston using the almighty Facebook.


It's time to put everything in its place - yes, we are being watched, yes, many of us are indifferent, however, looking at this whole situation, you are imbued with a certain irony. Where is that notorious iPhone protection, when the intelligence services steal our data in front of us, and was the introduction of the fingerprint scanner a deliberate move by the same law enforcement agencies, but this is already too loud a theory and should be put aside.

Touch ID and security

If we talk about security, then here Touch ID shows amazing results. By constantly scanning your fingerprint from different angles, a more accurate picture is created over time, which allows you to better recognize your finger. At the same time, the probability that someone in the world has a separate section of the fingerprint can coincide with yours is about 1 in 50,000, when the chance of guessing the password is 1 in 10,000.

Hacking Touch ID is practically impossible, copy too. The point is that your fingerprint is stored as an encrypted mathematical formula. In addition to encryption, a special unique key is also required to access the fingerprint; only the device's native processor knows it (Secure Enclave technology). In other words, by changing the processor or sensor, they will not see each other, since they will not be within the same iPhone.

Let's summarize. The iPhone 5S turned out to be really powerful, beautiful and interesting in terms of technology, but the embedded Touch ID turned out to be a very controversial innovation and, as a result, generated a lot of unanswered questions on the network - are our fingerprints stolen with you, how technology will revolutionize iOS itself, should we wait for the sensor to analyze the retina, saliva, hair, and so on ... In reality, users only got the opportunity to unlock their smartphone and avoid entering a password, which is already a lot.

If you did not find the answer to your question or something did not work out for you, and there is no suitable solution in the comments below, ask a question through our

The Touch ID system is based on a fingerprint scanner and allows you to reliably protect your personal data. Currently, this feature is supported by iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.

Despite the fact that Face ID is perhaps the most technologically advanced and at the same time convenient method of authorization that can only be provided to a smartphone, many users still shed tears for it. Most of them consider fingerprinting to be a more convenient method of identity verification due to the need to hold the iPhone with Face ID strictly in front of them, while the fingerprint scanner, as a rule, forgives any, even the most successful grip. However, Apple's facial recognition technology has another drawback, which is evident from the very first second of acquaintance with it.

When Apple replaced Touch ID with Face ID in flagship iPhones, many users could not believe for a long time that they had so easily abandoned such a convenient and intuitive method of verification. However, over time, even the most zealous opponents of face recognition technology have developed a habit and there are practically no people left who still dream of the return of fingerprinting. However, lately there have been rumors that Apple plans to return Touch ID to flagship iPhones, which will be built right into the display.

Apple rarely reverts to old technologies that it once abandoned. Such situations can be counted on the fingers of one hand, but almost all of them were associated with experimental products. In my memory, there was only one such case. We are talking, of course, about the MacBook Pro 16 ", which received a keyboard with a" scissor "mechanism, which Apple abandoned five years ago. However, the previously used butterfly proved to be so unreliable that Cupertino decided it would be better this way. Against this background, the planned return to use, albeit in a slightly different form than before, looks rather unusual, but quite expected.

In general, I am not the most envious person, but sometimes I also want to rejoice at the latest iOS updates as sincerely as others do. My interest in updates was carried away by iOS 7, which turned my iPad mini from a lightning-fast tablet to a laggy thing. Since then, I have changed more than one device, but the fear of breaking what worked properly by installing updates still lives in me, and therefore you will never meet me in line for the latest versions of iOS. confirmed that my position is not unfounded.

Despite the fact that Apple rarely directly asks its users about what they expect from the company's future products, it cannot be accused of being uninformed or lagging behind trends. In Cupertino every now and then they conduct all kinds of research, the result of which is an accurate hit on the target. This was the case with the Apple Watch, whose success, and even with the iPhone XR, which, although it came out quite a compromise, in the end. The love of users for Touch ID has not been ignored either.

The decisiveness with which Apple replaced Touch ID with Face ID in 2017 surprised not only retrogrades, but also technology fans. To many, the abandonment of the usual way of identification seemed even more radical than the release of the 5.5-inch one. In the end, then users were offered an alternative in the form of a more compact model, and in the case of biometrics, they were not given a choice at all. Probably, this is how Cupertino wanted to emphasize their readiness to mercilessly part with old technologies, but I personally would still like to return Touch ID. And that's why.

All modern MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs are equipped with the Apple T2 hardware chip. acting as an internal encryption controller and responsible for the internal processes of the computer. But like any component in the system, the Apple T2 is not without its flaws. The coprocessor at some point may fail in the module