How to Setup Touch ID on the iPhone 5S (Video)

It seems that some people are having a bit of an issue with the Touch ID (aka fingerprint scanner) on the iPhone 5S. Even though they go through the entire process of adding a fingerprint and it says successful, when they try and unlock their phone with that finger it tells them that their finger isn’t their finger. People have taken to the Apple forums to voice their frustration and it made me think that there should probably be a video tutorial on how to setup your fingerprint for the best possible chance of it being identified. So here goes my attempt at just that.

I. Remove Your Old Fingerprints

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Passcode & Fingerprint.
4. Enter your PIN code/password (in prompted).
5. Tap Fingerprints.
6. Tap Edit at the top right.
7. Tap the red minus next to one of your current Fingers below, then tap delete.
8. Repeat step 7 until all of the fingerprints are gone.

II. Add the First New Fingerprint

1. Tap Add a fingerprint.
2. Put the majority of your dominant hand thumb on the home button and make sure to cover the entire home button with your finger. Keep it there until it scans.
3. Now for the next few scans, think of your finger print in four quadrants (top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right). Move it slightly to the right and down and press down. Make sure to, again, cover the entire home button with you finger, even adjust the position if necessary to allow for this.
4. Once it has that, move the finger down (we just got the top left, now we’re getting the bottom left). Again, make sure to cover the entire home button with your finger when you do this.
5. After it scans that quadrant, move the finger over to the left and down (to get the top right quadrant). Again, make sure to cover the entire home button with your finger when you do this.
6. Once it has that, move the finger down (we just got the top right, now we’re getting the bottom right). Again, make sure to cover the entire home button with your finger when you do this.
7. Now that we have those quadrants, do the top center of your finger by putting it center on the home button but slightly down. Again, make sure to cover the entire home button with your finger when you do this.
8. Now do the bottom center by placing your finger center on the button but slightly higher than the first scan. Again, make sure to cover the entire home button with your finger when you do this.
9. Finally, put your finger center on the home button just as you did in the first scan. After that you should be prompted to change your grip (if not, continue to put your finger centered on the button until it is done scanning and asks you to adjust your grip). Again, make sure to cover the entire home button with your finger when you do this.

III. Adjust Your Grip

Whew, tough, I know, but trust me it’ll make it more accurate. Now, though we need to adjust our grip and make this work no matter what angle we grab our phone at. It basically now wants all of the edges of our finger so we’re going to again think of the edges of our finger in quadrants; top, left, right, and bottom. You excited, yet? Here goes.

1. Rotate your finger at a full 45 degree angle (see video) onto it’s right side and scan it.
2. Rotate your finger onto it’s left side in the same manner and scan it.
3. Position your finger so the top/tip is on the scanner and scan it.
4. Position it now with the lower portion (below what we scanned in section II above) and scan it.
5. Repeat steps 1 – 4 until it is done scanning (if it doesn’t finish after all 8 scans, just keep randomly positioning your finger on any edge until it does finish).
6. Once done, success! You have a finger saved!

IV. Repeat to Scan All the Fingers You Plan to Use

1. Repeat sections II and III above until you have scanned all the fingers you think you’ll use. I’d highly suggest at least both thumbs and index fingers and possible even your pinkies (trust me when you are eating a messy burger and your need to check something pronto, you’ll thank me for the pinkie idea).

Hope that helps some people out! Please feel free to leave your own tips or if it helped you in the comments below.

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