Some People Are Complaining About The Fingerprint Sensor On The iPhone 5S

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julia la roche iphone 5s fingerprint

William Wei, Business Insider

Apple's iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor may not be all it's cracked up to be.

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Hundreds of people have taken to Twitter and the Apple forums to share their complaints. The general consensus seems to be that people often find themselves needing to rescan their finger because Touch ID simply won't recognize it.

"Wife and I got iPhone 5s units at the same time," user Dreanmachine1 wrote in the Apple Support Communities discussion board last month. "She has had hit and miss success with touch ID. I am golden with mine, and also hers when I put a finger into her phone data. She is frustrated, and will delete fingerprints and reestablish on her phone. Her finger scan will work for a few times, and then it gets to be like it doesn't recognize her finger (left thumb or right thumb). Is anybody else having some issues like this?"

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Since Oct. 1, 2013, that post has amassed hundreds of replies, a lot of which agree with that user's sentiments. The thread, "Touch ID being Erratic", has been viewed over 13,000 times.

I've personally noticed a few issues with Touch ID on my iPhone 5S. For example, I've noticed that Touch ID doesn't work as well if my hands are particularly warm or sweaty.

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But these issues don't seem to be affecting all iPhone 5S users. It works "flawlessly" for some people, Business Insider has learned.

For those who are having issues with the iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor, a workaround seems to be to just erase all your fingerprints, and start from scratch.