page_title: Touch ID
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Touch ID / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A closeup of the iPhone 5S touch ID sensor
context_page_description: Touch ID is an electronic fingerprint recognition feature, designed and released by Apple Inc., that allows users to unlock devices, make purchases in the various Apple digital media stores, and authenticate Apple Pay online or in apps. It can also be used to lock and unlock password-protected notes on iPhone and iPad. Touch ID was first introduced in iPhones with 2013's iPhone 5S, and has been included on every subsequent iPhone until it was replaced with Face ID on the iPhone X. Following the iPhone X, Apple released the iPhone SE in 2020, which includes Touch ID in a design similar to the iPhone 8. Touch ID has been used on all iPads since the iPad Air 2 was introduced in 2014, until it was discontinued in favor of Face ID for iPad Pro.
  In 2015, Apple introduced a faster second-generation Touch ID in the iPhone 6S; a year later in 2016, it made its laptop debut in the MacBook Pro integrated on the right side of the Touch Bar. In MacBooks, each user account can have up to three fingerprints, and a total of five fingerprints across the system. In 2017, Apple released the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus with Touch ID, alongside the iPhone X that instead incorporated Face ID.
context_section_description: In 2012, Apple acquired AuthenTec, a company focused on fingerprint reading and identification management software, for $356 million. The acquisition led commentators to expect a fingerprint reading feature. Following leaks and speculation in early September, the iPhone 5S was unveiled on September 10, 2013, and was the first phone on a major US carrier to feature the technology. Apple's Vice President of Marketing, Phil Schiller, announced the feature at Apple's iPhone media event and spent several minutes (the major portion of the conference) discussing the feature.
  Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um predicted on September 4, 2013, that a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5S would help mobile commerce and boost adoption in the corporate environment. "As consumers increasingly rely on mobile devices to transact and store personal data, a reliable device-side authentication solution may become a necessity," Um said.
  With the unveiling of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus at a keynote event on September 9, 2014, Touch ID was expanded from being used to unlock the device and authenticating App Store purchases to also authenticating Apple Pay. The iPhone 6S incorporates a second-generation Touch ID sensor that is up to twice as fast as the first-generation sensor found in the 5S, 6, and SE (1st generation) phones. As of April 2020, the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, SE (2nd generation), 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro, iPad Pro 10.5" and 12.9" (2nd generation), and 2018 MacBook Air are the Apple devices which use the second generation sensor. The new Touch ID unlocks almost instantly and posed an issue as it unlocks too fast to read notifications on the lock screen. This is remedied with the iOS 10 update in which a user must press the home button to have the home screen appear, however this can be changed in the iOS settings to where users can just rest their finger on the sensor to unlock the user's device and go directly to the home screen, similar to previous versions of iOS. Solely placing a finger on the sensor will only unlock the iPhone unless said setting is enabled, and no notifications are currently being displayed on the lock screen.
caption: The iPhone 5S (pictured) was the first model with a Touch ID sensor integrated with its home button.
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