14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that the Touch ID problems are an ongoing affair even after the release of iOS 7.1, which Apple touted as able to “improve Touch ID fingerprint recognition.” Apparently there are some easy fixes that you can try out, but with no guarantees that they’ll work.
Among the numerous complaints found in an Apple forum thread, some replies actually contain possible fixes to the Touch ID flaw that causes the sensor to fail to recognize fingerprints.
No science is involved, and you don’t need to be a tinkerer to apply these fixes, but you will need to be careful with your data (i.e. keep a recent backup handy).
Potential Fix #1
If your iPhone 5s is acting up in the same way that these people are reporting on Apple Support Communities, then you might as well try and delete all of the prints that were previously saved on your handset and re-register new ones.
Launch Settings, tap Touch ID & Passcode, punch in your passcode, tap on a print to delete it, then tap Add a Fingerprint and record your new print.
Don’t get the wrong idea. The new prints don’t necessarily have to be all-new prints, like your toes or your cat’s furry mitts. You can re-assign the same prints as before, but just do it all from scratch. That’s one potential workaround. See if it works. You have nothing to lose (except maybe a bit of patience).
Potential Fix #2
Restore your phone. That’s right. Just plug it into your Mac or PC, launch iTunes, select your phone in the left services pane, right click the thing, choose Backup, wait for the backup to complete, then choose Restore iPhone in the right pane.
When the phone reboots, try setting up Touch ID with new prints before restoring your phone from the backup. If the prints work, go ahead and restore the contents of your phone. If they stop working after restoring from backup, then the bug is somewhere in the middle and only Apple can fix it with a future patch. Of course, if you can’t wait, there’s always step #3 below.
Potential Fix #3
Just take your phone to your local Apple store and shout from the top of your lungs that you want servicing done on your phone straight away, just like this woman here.
I’m kidding. Don’t do that. Just walk in with a smile on your face, tell them about your troubles and, if the technicians can’t do anything to help you, maybe you’ll even get a brand new replacement phone. In any case, if the problem continues to escalate, you can expect Apple to drop a software fix any day now.