Hello.
I see peoples around on the internet (here on XDA to) that are complaining about the fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy Note 4 to be bad and inaccurate. Well, i'm here to tell you that it's not the fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy Note 4 that is bad or inaccurate, but it's your way of setting the fingerprint scanner up that is the problem.
I have set up my fingerprint scanner up correctly and it works extremely good. Just follow this guide and you will be all fine. This video is not made by me by the way and even if this shows the setup process for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S tablets, it still works the same for the Galaxy Note 4.
I also added a poll about the fingerprint scanner in the post here. ONLY answer it after you have correctly set up the fingerprint scanner according to the guide in the YouTube video and after you have given the fingerprint scanner some tries, thanks.
Have a good day.
Hmm well I have watched your video but I think you missed out what is causing the unsatisfactory experience.
If you are unlocking the phone supported/two-handed, such as in the video, phone placed on a stationary platform such as a table and you swipe your finger; or your left hand holding the phone while your right hand swipes the scanner - it isn't exactly a convenient feature. If you are unlocking the phone 2-handed, there isn't a lot of difference from unlocking using PIN.
2-handed unlock is 99.9% accurate for me - same as the iPhone 6/6+'s one-touch scanner. However, unlocking one handed is another matter. The phone will prompt you for a second set of 10 swipes after you done your first 10 - and if you did your second set of 10 supported on table or with your other hand, then you are likely to face issues unlocking single handed.
This is because the con of a swipe censor is that it is less accurate vs the one-touch version, and the drag of your finger/thumb while swiping distorts your fingerprint (because your flesh drags and there is pressure) according to the direction you swipe. The way you swipe 2 handed will be different from the way you swipe single handed.
I have no problems registering the first set of 10 with the conventional thumb downwards swipe. That is easy. But during the second set of 10 where I try to register one handed with my thumb swiping on its sides, there is a few hit and misses. I have eventually gotten used to it and accuracy in unlocking improved much, but for every 10 unlocks I can still miss 1 or 2 times. It is no wear near the accuracy nor convenience of the one-touch sensors.
At first when I got the device I thought the scanner was garbage (I was garbage not the scanner :3) used to get 30-40% accuracy, I was swiping my finger on the scanner in same direction (downwards) everytime as instructed while registering, when it dint work well I turned it off, then I came across few threads n vids and understood I have to swipe my whole pad in from different variations and angles while registering I tried that and woila, I have almost 99% accuracy now, it works sooo soo good now, been using it since more than a week and I unlock it around minimum 50 times a day using it and also use some apps I've assigned fingerprint to and I've only failed once since I corrected the method of registering finger. so yup, awesome scanner much btr than s5 the only trick is to register from diff angles as shown in video n you'll be good to go.. :good:
I dont care how well it works with two hands, its the thumb on my right hand when using the device onehanded thats the "problem".
It works most of the time, and ive registered my right thumb in various angles and variations like in the video. But not all the time. Its fine for normal use, though, it really is. But if you have a shorter thumb than me, it might be a lot worse. Even for me, its a bit of a dud due to the fact that it sometimes doesnt register (my thumb might be slightly off center, or I swipe too fast, etc).
The more reasonable method would be a slimmer bezel at the bottom, drop the scanner on the homebutton, add a onepress scanner at the back of the device for your index, instead of that horribly useless heartrate/oxygenlevel monitor.
i tried the fingerprint scanner, did it 10 times to recognize it and set it but it didn't show up so i restarted my new note 4 and it worked and i swiped my finger and it unlocked then i locked it again but the fingerprint scanner went away again and its only giving me an option to swipe to unlock.
I tried to set up the fingerprint scanner several times with different methods/angles. I was unable to get a good experience unlocking it with one hand. The iPhone is miles better in this department. Works almost every time two-handed, though.
The way Samsung design it sense is not good. You need gently swipe down which simply look stupid and troublesome.
This part no deny iPhone did it great by press and hold only.
Agreed. That being said, I dont see any real point of it. Its much like the UV sensor, the heartrate sensor and all that other jazz.
The fingerprint scanner is just pure garbage. Not sure why so many are blaming Samsung for not giving proper instructions? Everything in that video the OP posted is clearly explained in the fingerprint registration stage. It even has an animated finger that shows you how to scan different parts of the finger and different angles and directions. Its not that we have not registered the fingerprint properly, its that the scanner is just worse than ebola and aids combined. The poll results also support my assertion that the scanner is totally sh1t.
---------- Post added at 08:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:25 AM ----------
Slai said:
Agreed. That being said, I dont see any real point of it. Its much like the UV sensor, the heartrate sensor and all that other jazz.
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The fingerprint scanner is not jazz. If it worked properly most people could get some real use of the fingerprint scanner versus the UV sensor.
The only real use would be protecting certain apps and unlocking the phone. Both of which are easily doable with a PIN. that being said I don't have a problem using the scanner with one hand nor two, but it's not 100%, I agree it should have been better placed. Preferably at the back under the camera for your index.
I guess I get about 9/10 first try unlocks at this point, one handed.
I have tried all the methods and it still is mostly garbage for me. And it starts registering the swipe after a half-second delay which means you need to wait for the screen to turn on and for the arrow to show up - what a waste of time. It is also only 10% accurate for me (even when I have registered 15 different angles for the one finger I use). Maybe a software update will make it a bit better, who knows. For now - I will turn it off as before.
Maybe just register in the same-ish angles...
I still don't see what the problem is. I still have 99% success with my fingerprint scanner. It simply just works every time i'm using it.
Either you are setting the fingerprint scanner up in a wrong way, using it wrong, or there must be some problems with the fingerprint scanner.
I'm even tempted to make a video that shows how good my fingerprint scanner works just to prove it .
And lastly. Even if Touch ID on the iPhone is more easy to use, it's far from being more secure than the fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S5 / Note 4. Because on Touch ID, you just presses directly on top of the home button on the iPhone, which leaves your fingerprint open to anyone who manage to steal your iPhone. On the Galaxy S5 / Note 4, you have to swipe to get it to work, which means that you are actually swiping away the fingerprint on the button as you swipe.
Because of that, a thief is going to have a hard time to find your actual fingerprint to use to open the phone.
Tom-Helge said:
I still don't see what the problem is. I still have 99% success with my fingerprint scanner. It simply just works every time i'm using it.
Either you are setting the fingerprint scanner up in a wrong way, using it wrong, or there must be some problems with the fingerprint scanner.
I'm even tempted to make a video that shows how good my fingerprint scanner works just to prove it .
And lastly. Even if Touch ID on the iPhone is more easy to use, it's far from being more secure than the fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S5 / Note 4. Because on Touch ID, you just presses directly on top of the home button on the iPhone, which leaves your fingerprint open to anyone who manage to steal your iPhone. On the Galaxy S5 / Note 4, you have to swipe to get it to work, which means that you are actually swiping away the fingerprint on the button as you swipe.
Because of that, a thief is going to have a hard time to find your actual fingerprint to use to open the phone.
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If you can make a video where you at least 10 times in a row unlock the phone, while holding it comfortably in one hand, I'll believe you. I'm talking about unlocking it with the same hand holding the phone, not two hands. If so many people have problems with the scanner, Samsung either has piss poor quality control, or it's just inferior by design.
And have you ever used an iPhone at all? There's no usable track of your fingerprint after you unlocked the phone. Unless you have very greasy fingers, in which case you wouldn't be able to unlock the phone anyway.
Samsung did most things right with the Note 4, but the fingerprint sensor wasn't one of them.
This is ridiculous. We can blame Samsung for building a swipe-scanner rather than touch like Apple but what is this unlocking with one hand business? Look at how big the device is, I would think you have higher risk of dropping the device than it failing for you when you swipe with one hand given the device is top heavy based on how one would hold it if attempting to one-hand finger unlock.
However, if your device lays flat on a table when trying to unlock, make sure you get it at the same angle you registered it at...
Couldn't agree more.. Look at the poll... Clearly doesn't work like it should.
an_xda said:
This is ridiculous. We can blame Samsung for building a swipe-scanner rather than touch like Apple but what is this unlocking with one hand business? Look at how big the device is, I would think you have higher risk of dropping the device than it failing for you when you swipe with one hand given the device is top heavy based on how one would hold it if attempting to one-hand finger unlock.
However, if your device lays flat on a table when trying to unlock, make sure you get it at the same angle you registered it at...
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For me, having a fingerprint sensor is mostly for convenience. If I'm already holding my phone and have both hands available, it's not much faster than using a pattern or PIN code. Especially when I'm in a hurry or wanna check something quickly, pattern or PIN is much more reliable, because I'm "swiping too fast".
Mafle93 said:
For me, having a fingerprint sensor is mostly for convenience. If I'm already holding my phone and have both hands available, it's not much faster than using a pattern or PIN code. Especially when I'm in a hurry or wanna check something quickly, pattern or PIN is much more reliable, because I'm "swiping too fast".
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That is your use case. For my corporate IT policy, we require an 8-character (not just 8 digit PIN). This is effectively typing a complex password every time I need to unlock my device. The fingerprint scanner alleviates this pain and it has worked almost flawlessly on the S5 for me, let alone the Note 4...
If using the PIN or pattern works for you, you can ignore the fingerprint scanner then. Just another useless Samsung gimmick, right?
If you can make a video where you at least 10 times in a row unlock the phone, while holding it comfortably in one hand, I'll believe you.
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Oh, even I could do that. That doesnt prove much though, just confirms that it works 10 times in a row. Doesnt take in to account a bumpy busride, or when youre in a hurry, or if it rained ever, or if youre nervous, etc.
I saw a video a while ago explaining why people with an S5 had so much trouble using the fingerprint sensor: part of it was under the screen and you had to swipe over a part of the screen too. Just like in the video you posted.
I for instance am able to unlock my note 4 by only touching the home button with my index finger. This proves the fingerprint sensor is completely in the home button. And also why there are no dots on the lower part of the screen indicating you should swipe on them like that tab S and S5
Had my S8 plus for about a month now. Every 2-3 days or so, the fingerprint sensor stops working just randomly. Will work perfectly, then just out of nowhere, doesn't respond to anything. Disabling fingerprint security and re-enabling doesn't fix it. Trying to go into applications- system apps- fingerprints, and trying to force close it won't work as it's grayed out. The only thing that works to get it working again is a restart. Not the end of the world I know, but having to restart it at the most inopportune times is kind of annoying. And paying this much for what amounts to the top of the line phone on the market right now, and having one the most important functions just stop working all the time is crap. And no I don't want to use the iris scanner, or pin, or pattern security. I want to use the fingerprint sensor.
Searches around the web indicate this is pretty common. Anyone else on the VZW S8 or plus having this issue? Anyone know if a fix is coming down the pipeline? I'm pretty sure this would be a software issue as it works 85% of the time and a simple restart gets it working again.
baune7 said:
Had my S8 plus for about a month now. Every 2-3 days or so, the fingerprint sensor stops working just randomly. Will work perfectly, then just out of nowhere, doesn't respond to anything. Disabling fingerprint security and re-enabling doesn't fix it. Trying to go into applications- system apps- fingerprints, and trying to force close it won't work as it's grayed out. The only thing that works to get it working again is a restart. Not the end of the world I know, but having to restart it at the most inopportune times is kind of annoying. And paying this much for what amounts to the top of the line phone on the market right now, and having one the most important functions just stop working all the time is crap. And no I don't want to use the iris scanner, or pin, or pattern security. I want to use the fingerprint sensor.
Searches around the web indicate this is pretty common. Anyone else on the VZW S8 or plus having this issue? Anyone know if a fix is coming down the pipeline? I'm pretty sure this would be a software issue as it works 85% of the time and a simple restart gets it working again.
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Some other threads on XDA have said that disabling fingerprint scanner gestures fixes it. I haven't ever used those and I have never had a problem with the sensor. It isn't as good as the sensor on my Moto Z Force Droid was, but it is pretty good.
Smithfolk4 said:
Some other threads on XDA have said that disabling fingerprint scanner gestures fixes it. I haven't ever used those and I have never had a problem with the sensor. It isn't as good as the sensor on my Moto Z Force Droid was, but it is pretty good.
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Yeah, I disabled that last night. Waiting to see if that works or not. Just thought I would post in the Verizon specific forum to see if any other Verizon users are having this issue. Pretty sure it's a software issue, and am just curious about differences between the Verizon software and other carrier specific software.
Always had the gestures disabled and I have noticed this, but it always goes away with time for me. I thought it was just because I was sweaty at the gym, but it doesn't even know that I am attempting to use the scanner. Then, it happened outside the gym. Goes away in just a couple minutes, thought it was just me.
It seems that the fingerprint scanner is more reliable when the screen is off than it is when the lockscreen is on looking for iris scan.
Hi,
Using the Red Magic 3 is quite nice, but one of the major problems to me is the FingerPrint scanner.
It happens really often that I have to "press" the FP scanner several times before it lets me in
But on the other had, Face unlcok works superbly here !
It recognizes my face everytime, even in rather dark environment.
And unlocking is then super fast...
Guess I'll use that more often than the FP scanner
You guys also have that "problem" with the P scanner ?
No its working perfect for me, much better then the fp sensor of the xiaomi mi mix 2 (my prev phone). Meaby try to set it up again?
I had the same problem, then it went away, then it came back.
Saw some people complaining here as well on github.
Funny thing for me, seem to be related to having activated multiple users in this device and for some reason the finger print only works (normally) on this second account. Deleting that saving account did not solve the issue as the sensor continues completely irresponsive in my main account (so it's clearly just a software issue). If I recreate a second account it will work there, but still not in my main account.
Do you have more than one user registered for that device? I use the other users mainly to have alt accounts for different games
I'm in touch with their (slow) support and the last message I got was:
We will feedback this case to our R&D .Pls provide the order number and Build number of the phone.If you can, please also provide a video file of this process,thanks.
In my case it's clearly just a software issue, so it should be fixed in future builds (hopefully).
Perhaps a factory reset would help, but I don't want to test that option as I'm lazy to set up everything up again.
Hi,
Same thing here.
The FP scanner is not on par with some of the RM3 sibblings like the Mate 20x or the mi mix 3.
I think the scanner is too small to recognize your fingerprint decently.
But if I compare Face unlock on this device to face unlock on the afroementioned devices, it's a totally different story !!!
It is amazingly fast and reliable, even in low light conditions...
So I am almost always using that one.
Regards.
No problems here with the FP scanner.
I'm on Global ROM,bootloader is still locked,no root and only my account registered to the phone,but I've setup 4 fingerprints,and all of them work quite good....
Hi there! I recently bought Xiaomi 12 Pro Gloabl MIUI 13 and I faced really annoying problem. The proximity sensor does not work and it did not pass the test. Allays shows 5.0 at the test no mater if the sensor is covered or not. And the real problem, the big one is face ID does not work at dark, like there is no IR at all and that is great issue for me, because this makes phone completely useless for me while traveling at night.
What I red the proximity sensor is virtual instead of hardware and it makes problems and user waiting for software solution for years. OK, but what about IR camera for face ID. Is it integrated in this phone or not. I find no answer.
Planning to switch to xiaomi.eu rom hoping for fix, but...lookin for solutions with golobal rom, because I use a lot of banking apps that I`m not sure if they work wit unlocked bootloader.
There is no IR cam, just the regular one.
That's not a 12 Pro only issue, most phones behave the same in the dark.
You can however use the fingerprint, so where's the point of calling the device useless at night?
Piotrekk said:
There is no IR cam, just the regular one.
That's not a 12 Pro only issue, most phones behave the same in the dark.
You can however use the fingerprint, so where's the point of calling the device useless at night?
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The point is, when the phone is in holder I just tap on the screen and it unlocks by face ID immediately. That`s I have used with Mi8 till now. Fingerprint of 12 Pro is very slow compare to Mi8 and mostly unlocks with second try.
Well I have to adjust to new lack of hardware, but quite expensive Xiaomi
mad_presley said:
The point is, when the phone is in holder I just tap on the screen and it unlocks by face ID immediately. That`s I have used with Mi8 till now. Fingerprint of 12 Pro is very slow compare to Mi8 and mostly unlocks with second try.
Well I have to adjust to new lack of hardware, but quite expensive Xiaomi
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Try to register your finger a second time as an additional finger. This could help to speed up the recognition.
I faced proximity sensor problems with my 11T Pro but the 12 Pro is working great. I use the fingerprint which for me is lightening fast. Unfortunately without the front IR sensor, no photos going to work like iPhone when it comes to face I'd.
mad_presley said:
The proximity sensor does not work and it did not pass the test. Allays shows 5.0 at the test no mater if the sensor is covered or not.
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Hi did you try to move the phone towards your hand during the test? because this movement simulates the gesture of answering a call.
Enable double tap to wake, then unlock with index finger
PS Don't use phone while travelling