If the only option you have to unlock your iPhone is passcode. What happened to your Touch ID? Well, in this guide, we will delve into how to fix Touch ID not working on your iPhone.
The iPhone Touch ID is the fastest way to unlock your iPhone without a Face ID. You just need to let your iPhone scan your fingerprint to unlock your device once the fingerprint sensor can confirm it.
However, a lot can cause your iPhone Touch ID to fail when you try to unlock it. This includes but is not limited to the iPhone touch ID not being unable to capture your full fingerprint for recognition. But if you are sure that your Touch ID was working perfectly before it stopped recognizing your finger you need to take the following actions to resolve the issue.
How to Fix Touch ID Not Working On iPhone
You won’t be able to point out exactly why your iPhone Touch ID isn’t working. But you can try different troubleshooting tips to resolve this. These tips include updating your iPhone OS, clearing your iPhone cache, restarting your iPhone, and re-calibrating your Touch ID among others.
So, in this guide, we will walk you through different approaches to fixing your iPhone Touch ID not working.
Restart your iPhone
The first troubleshooting tip to fix your iPhone when malfunctioning is to attempt to restart it to clear all the clogs or if the Touch ID is stuck. However, if you use any of the iPhone models with a Touch ID here are the steps to restart your phone.
- Press and hold the Home button
- While you are still holding the Home button press and hold the Sleep/Wake button.
- Keep holding the “Buttons” until the “Apple Logo” appears.
Let go off the bottoms and your iPhone will restart. This works for all iPhone with Touch ID.
Clean the Touch Sensor
Use a wipe to clean the Touch sensor to see if it’s dirty. If it doesn’t, it could be the reason why the Touch ID isn’t responding to your touch. Then, you need to clean it very well until there is no more dirt and the sensor can recognize your fingerprint.
Don’t Use a Wet Finger
Your fingers must all dry at all times if you don’t want to have a problem with your iPhone Touch ID recognition. If by mistake, your finger is wet, you a dried cloth to wipe it and wait for some seconds to completely dry the leftovers until you try to use it again.
Your Touch ID Finger has an Injury
If there is a change in your Touch ID finger like an injury or blister your Touch ID won’t recognize it. This is minor though but for a security reason, your Touch ID finger has to match the record on your iPhone. However, if you have multiple fingerprints registered on your iPhone you should consider using a different finger for the Touch ID to see if it works.
Update your iPhone OS
If your iPhone OS is outdated it can cause your device to malfunction. Therefore, we recommend that you should always stay ontop of the software update. Here are the steps to check for a new update on your iPhone with or without fingerprint.
- Open the “Settings App” on your “iPhone.”
- Hit “General.”
- Tap “Software Update.”
- Tap “Download” to download the available software update and install it on your iPhone. You can download the update and install it when your iPhone is inactive like in the middle of the night.
Delete Existing Fingerprint
You should consider deleting the existing fingerprints and setting a new one. With this, your iPhone will be able to recognize your fingerprint even if the nature of your fingers has changed.
However, restart your iPhone before enrolling a new fingerprint. This will make sure that your deleted finger cache won’t interfere with the new enrolments.
- Open the iPhone “Settings App.”
- Hit “Passcode & Touch ID.”
- Click on the “Name” of the fingerprint you want to delete or remove.
- Select “Delete Fingerprint.”
You can follow the same procedure to enrol new fingerprints.
Reset your iPhone Network Settings
You may think that there is no correlation between your Touch ID and network settings. But there is. Resetting your iPhone network settings can resolve the glitch if none of the steps above work.
- Open the “Settings” app on your iPhone. You can see that on the home screen or Apps library.
- Hit “General.”
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit “Transfer or Reset iPhone.”
- Hit “Reset” on the screen.
- Select “Reset Network Settings” from the popup.
- Enter your “iPhone Passcode” to confirm the selection.
- Confirm your “Screen Time Passcode” if you are using the passcode on your iPhone to monitor your activities.”
Once you have confirmed the steps above your iPhone network settings will be reset to the default.
Reset your iPhone
It’s advisable to backup your iPhone to either your iCloud account or external storage device and reset your device. Resetting your iPhone to the default or factory settings will erase all your personal configuration to restore the default settings.
- Go to your iPhone “Settings.” You can access your iPhone settings by clicking on the cogwheel icon on your home screen or App library.
- Tap “General.”
- Scroll down and hit “Erase all Content and Settings.”
- Tap “Continue” under “Erase This iPhone.”
- Hit “Erase iPhone.”
- Confirm your “Passcode” to erase and reset your iPhone to the default.