HACKER Q&A
📣 artur_makly

Why even offer Touch ID if it wont unlock my iPhone?


This may be a very naive question. But whats the point of offering this feature if it simply cant unlock my phone?

background, I quickly reset my pswd last night + created a touch ID. But for some reason its not reading it the simple passcode ( i think it has to do with my new replacement glass that somehow mis-identified ( 2x! ) one of the passcode numbers I entered.

So I'm thinking so what right?! I have my unique finger print..right? NOPE sorry. You will need to restore the phone.

I would assume the unique touch ID would suffice as a unique secure measure and have that suffice/prioritized over a simple 6-digit code that can be easily seen entered by an 8 yr old child.

  👤 twobitshifter Accepted Answer ✓
The reason is that a passcode cannot be forced to be entered and you can set a maximum number wrong passcode attempts which will wipe your phone. A fingerprint can be lifted and faked and someone can force you against your will to unlock your phone.
👤 TestSIM1
FWIW you should never relay on Touch ID as a sole means of authorization:

>>> You must enter your passcode or password for additional security validation:

>>> after you restart your iPhone, iPad, or Mac;

>>> when more than 48 hours have passed from the last time you unlocked your device;[1]

I mean sooner or later you'd run into issues unlocking your phone via Touch ID.

1. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204587

👤 geoah
I would have assumed you could reset the passcode is you had your icloud password but that doesn’t seem to be the case for ios. Macos seems to give you the option to reset your password via icloud.