A number of iPhone 5S users have suggested that their phone’s TouchID fingerprint scanner is losing accuracy following initial uses.
With the iPhone 5S having been on sale for less than three months, handset owners have started suggesting that they have been forced to rescan their fingers on a number of occasions due to degradation in the TouchID sensor’s ability to read prints.
“I’ve been using Touch ID since I got an iPhone 5s in mid-October,” Dr Drang, an online commentator described by news outlets as ‘a consulting engineer well known amongst nerds on the internet’ has stated.
He added: “Generally speaking, I like it, and I find it faster than the old swipe-and-passcode method, but I’ve felt compelled to reteach it my fingerprints twice already. I know this sounds impossible, but its recognition of my prints seems to decay with time.”
Detailing the issues he stated: “I rescanned my fingers this weekend, and Touch ID has been amazingly fast and accurate since then. Just as it was when I first got the 5s, and just as it was a few weeks later when I rescanned my fingers for the first time. Just before each rescan, though, I was so frustrated with Touch ID I felt like throwing the phone across the room.”
Drang is not alone in his complaints of a degrading TouchID sensor either. Since his reports surfaced earlier this week, dozens of iPhone 5S owners have since shared their own TouchID accuracy issues.
According to tech site BGR, “numerous people have posted responses on Twitter and sent BGR emails indicating that they are experiencing Touch ID accuracy degradation as described in this post.”
Apple has yet to comment on claims of TouchID degradation and, at present, we at TrustedReviews have yet to experience any such issues ourselves with our own iPhone 5S handsets.
A fingerprint scanner protected by a sapphire glass layer, the iPhone 5S incorporated TouchID sensor can be used to unlock the Samsung Galaxy S4 rivalling handset, or as a quick method for making purchases through the Apple App Store.
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