Much of our digital lives is stored on our Apple devices, and we recommend that you always use a passcode or password to help protect this important information and your privacy. Using Touch ID on your iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro is an easy way to use your fingerprint instead of a password for many common operations. With just a touch of your finger, the sensor quickly reads your fingerprint and automatically unlocks your device. You can use it to authorize purchases from the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store, as well as with Apple Pay. Developers can also allow you to use Touch ID to sign into their apps.
Retina Display Four million pixels. One immersive experience. With a resolution of 2560-by-1600 for. Touch ID is really nice for getting back into your laptop without the password.TouchBar can be useful when you need to change a setting quickly and it can be customized.The trackpad and the gestures are very fluid and really makes the whole experience a breeze.
Advanced technologies
The technology within Touch ID is some of the most advanced hardware and software that we've put into any device. The button is made from sapphire crystal—one of the clearest, hardest materials available. This protects the sensor and acts as a lens to precisely focus it on your finger. On iPhone and iPad, a steel ring surrounding the button detects your finger and tells Touch ID to start reading your fingerprint.
The sensor uses advanced capacitive touch to take a high-resolution image from small sections of your fingerprint from the subepidermal layers of your skin. Touch ID then intelligently analyzes this information with a remarkable degree of detail and precision. It categorizes your fingerprint as one of three basic types—arch, loop, or whorl. It also maps out individual details in the ridges that are smaller than the human eye can see, and even inspects minor variations in ridge direction caused by pores and edge structures.
Touch ID can read multiple fingerprints, and it can read fingerprints in 360-degrees of orientation. It then creates a mathematical representation of your fingerprint and compares this to your enrolled fingerprint data to identify a match and unlock your device. It’s only this mathematical representation of your fingerprint that is stored—never images of your finger itself. Touch ID will incrementally update the mathematical representation of enrolled fingerprints over time to improve matching accuracy.
Security safeguards
Every fingerprint is unique, so it’s rare that even a small section of two separate fingerprints are alike enough to register as a match for Touch ID. The probability of this happening is 1 in 50,000 with a single, enrolled finger. And Touch ID allows only five unsuccessful fingerprint match attempts before you must enter your password. By comparison, the odds of guessing a typical 4-digit passcode are 1 in 10,000. Although some codes, like “1234,” might be more easily guessed, there is no such thing as an easily guessable fingerprint pattern.
To start using Touch ID, you must first set up a passcode on your iPhone or iPad (or a password on your Mac). 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;
to add or delete a fingerprint to use with Touch ID;
to change the iPhone or iPad passcode or Mac system password, and for other security settings like FileVault on your Mac;
when there have been more than five unrecognized Touch ID authorization attempts in a row; and
after you log out of your Mac.
To improve security, you can choose a long, complex alphanumeric password. On your iPhone or iPad, tap ‘Passcode Options’ and select Custom Alphanumeric Code.
If your device is lost or stolen, you can prevent Touch ID from being used to unlock your device with Find My iPhone Lost Mode. Starting with iOS 7, your iPhone and iPad offer additional protection against theft with Activation Lock, which requires an Apple ID and password to turn off Find My iPhone, erase data, or reactivate your device. If your MacBook Pro with Touch ID is lost or stolen, erasing your Mac remotely also disables Touch ID.
You can also use Touch ID to purchase content from the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store, instead of entering your Apple ID password.
Touch ID can be used by multiple users on a MacBook Pro, making it easy to share a system securely. Each user account can have up to three enrolled fingerprints, and a total of five fingerprints can be enrolled across the system.
Secure Enclave
The chip in your device includes an advanced security architecture called the Secure Enclave, which was developed to protect your passcode and fingerprint data. Touch ID doesn't store any images of your fingerprint, and instead relies only on a mathematical representation. It isn't possible for someone to reverse engineer your actual fingerprint image from this stored data.
Your fingerprint data is encrypted, stored on device, and protected with a key available only to the Secure Enclave. Your fingerprint data is used only by the Secure Enclave to verify that your fingerprint matches the enrolled fingerprint data. It can’t be accessed by the OS on your device or by any applications running on it. It's never stored on Apple servers, it's never backed up to iCloud or anywhere else, and it can't be used to match against other fingerprint databases.
Learn More
Learn how to use Touch ID on your iPhone or iPad or your MacBook Pro. Learn what to do if your device is lost or stolen.
Get started
Lift the lid of your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air to turn it on, or press Touch ID. Every time you start up, restart, or log out, you need to type your password to log in to your user account. After setting up Touch ID, as long as you're logged in, you can use your fingerprint instead of typing when you're asked for your password.
With Touch ID, you can also use your fingerprint to make purchases from the App Store, Apple Books Store, and iTunes Store, as well as many of your favorite websites using Apple Pay.
MacBook Pro with Touch Bar
On MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar, the Touch ID button is on the right side of the Touch Bar at the top of the keyboard.
13- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar introduced in late 2019 or later
13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar introduced in 2016 through 2019
MacBook Air
On MacBook Air models introduced in 2018 and later, the Touch ID button is on the right side of the function keys.
Click the plus sign to add a fingerprint, type your user account password when prompted, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Use the checkboxes to select the Touch ID features that you want to use on your Mac.
Tips for adding fingerprints:
Place your finger on the Touch ID button — but don’t press. Hold it there until you're asked to lift your finger.
Lift and rest your finger slowly, making small adjustments to the position of your finger each time.
Add up to three fingerprints.
You can also delete fingerprints:
Hover the pointer over a fingerprint. A delete button appears.
Click the delete button, then enter your password to remove the fingerprint.
Use Touch ID to unlock your Mac
After you set up Touch ID, you can use it to unlock your Mac. Wake up your Mac by opening the lid, pressing a key, or tapping the trackpad. Then place your finger lightly on Touch ID to log in.
You must type your password to log in after you start up, restart, or log out of your Mac. When you're logged in, you can quickly authenticate with Touch ID whenever you're asked for your password.
You can also use Touch ID to unlock these features on your Mac:
Password-protected Notes
The Passwords section in Safari preferences
System Preferences If you have FileVault turned on, you must type your password to unlock the Security & Privacy pane and the Users & Groups pane.
If multiple users set up Touch ID and log in to the same Mac, they can use Touch ID to switch accounts. Just press Touch ID, and your Mac switches to the logged-in user account associated with the fingerprint.
Make iTunes Store, App Store, and Apple Books Store purchases with Touch ID
Use Touch ID instead of your Apple ID password to make purchases on your Mac:
Open the iTunes Store, App Store, or Apple Books Store.
Click the buy button for something you want to purchase. A Touch ID prompt appears.
Place your finger on Touch ID to complete the purchase.
You might be prompted to enter your password on your first purchase or if you've made changes to the fingerprints that you've enrolled in Touch ID.
Use Touch ID for Apple Pay
You can make easy, secure, and private purchases on websites using Apple Pay on your Mac. Apple Pay never stores your credit or debit card information and never shares it with the merchant.
Apple Pay is not available in all regions.
Set up Apple Pay
On Mac notebooks with Touch ID, you’re prompted to configure Apple Pay during setup. If you don’t choose to set up Apple Pay when you first start up, you can set it up later in the Wallet & Apple Pay section of System Preferences. You can also check your transaction history and manage your payment cards there. For example, you can add or delete cards and make updates to contact or shipping information.
You can add payment cards to only one user account on your Mac. If you set up Apple Pay in your main user account and then log in under another account, Touch ID and Apple Pay are unavailable. In this situation, you can use an eligible iPhone or Apple Watch to complete Apple Pay transactions that you begin in Safari on your Mac.
Make a purchase in Safari with Apple Pay
On websites that offer Apple Pay, click the Apple Pay button during checkout. When prompted, complete the payment by placing your finger lightly on Touch ID.
Turn on, restart, sleep, and shut down
Press Touch ID to turn on your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air if it's open and turned off. If your Mac is closed and turned off, simply open it to turn it on.
Unlike with older Mac notebooks, holding down Touch ID on your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air doesn't display a dialog with options to Sleep, Restart, or Shut Down. You can find these options in the Apple menu. If your Mac is unresponsive, you can hold down Touch ID for six seconds to force a shut down. Note that you'll lose any unsaved work if you do this.
Pressing Touch ID won’t put your Mac to sleep. Instead, choose Apple menu > Sleep. If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can also add a Sleep button to the Control Strip:
Macbook Touch Id
Click Finder.
Select View > Customize Touch Bar.
Touch the Control Strip region of the Touch Bar to switch to Control Strip customization.
Use your pointer to drag items that you want, such as the Sleep button, from the main display down into the Touch Bar. You can also drag items left and right within the Touch Bar to rearrange them, or drag them up and out of the Touch Bar to remove them.
Tap Done in the Touch Bar or click Done on the screen when you finish.
Learn more about Touch ID
You can use Touch ID to control accessibility features on your Mac:
Do Macbooks Have Touch Screen
Triple-press Touch ID to display the Accessibility Options window.
Hold the Command key and triple-press Touch ID to toggle VoiceOver on and off.
In some situations, you need to enter your password instead of using Touch ID:
If you've just restarted your Mac
If you've logged out of your user account
If your fingerprint isn't recognized five times in a row
If you haven't unlocked your Mac in more than 48 hours
If you've just enrolled or deleted fingerprints
If you still need help unlocking your Mac with Touch ID, follow these tips. Try again after each one:
Touch Id Macbook Air
Make sure that your fingers are clean and dry. Moisture, lotions, sweat, oils, cuts, or dry skin might affect fingerprint recognition. Certain activities can also temporarily affect fingerprint recognition, including exercising, showering, swimming, or cooking.
Your finger should cover Touch ID completely. While Touch ID is scanning, don't press down or move your finger.