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OK. So after the Apple hack when celebrity nudes were stolen I changed my password to something more complex than I can easily remember. (My password is now stored in the password manager app and is something like this u7GhY53bAhh2x.)

When I was buying this latest iPhone the sales rep at the Apple store assured me that I will no longer need to enter my password because the phone can read my fingerprint that is very secure, blah-blah-blah. So I set this all up and then what... now when I try to download a new app the thing pops up and wants me to enter my password. The praised fingerprint doesn't seem to do anything. So OK I entered my password (which now basically required a trip to the password manager program and a process of copying it letter-by-letter.) This was about a couple of weeks ago. Today, I was trying to write a review for another app and guess what -- that same annoying password window came up & wanted me to enter it again. So where is that fingerprint thing again?

Can someone explain how to make it work with the fingerprint and not bug me with entering the password over and over again?

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  • I understand the need to use the PIN to unlock after a restart... But seriously the app store situation needs some work, I would say app store wise 80% of the time I still end up entering the password and 20% of the time it will just ask for a thumb.
    – Tyson
    Dec 24, 2014 at 5:54
  • At a guess, I would say it's because the iTunes account isn't necessarily the same as the login account, so needs separate confirmation.
    – Tetsujin
    Feb 4, 2015 at 11:34

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Password is always needed for the first time after a restart, first time in the App Store etc, after that it will accept the fingerprint, so long as you have that switched on -

Settings > Touch ID… > [passcode] > use touchID for…

enter image description here

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  • I don't think I restarted it on purpose. But there was that nagging update that I eventually installed that made me enter my web store password, etc. could that do it?
    – user105921
    Dec 23, 2014 at 22:47
  • Yes. An update requires a restart, so that is likely to be it.
    – Tetsujin
    Dec 24, 2014 at 8:08
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The fingerprint is not a replacement for the password. It's a convenience feature to save some time. It's possible to create secure passwords you can easily remember.

Here's an explanation: https://xkcd.com/936/

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  • 2
    Dictionary attacks makes it trivial to attack this kind of passwords
    – Antzi
    May 11, 2016 at 1:25

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