Note 4 Fingerprint scanner or not?

[harryhoudini66]

Let me clear something up for those of you who might not have caught this. What I am talking about and what some of you are talking about are two totally different things. I am not talking about the fingerprint scanner not being able to recognize your fingerprint. The problem that me and omarm were having is this. You would have the fingerprint lock all set up. You would lock the screen or let the phone timeout and lock itself. You would then wake up the phone and want to unlock it with your fingerprint but instead of the phone prompting you to scan your fingerprint the phone asks you to just swipe the screen to the left or right. I can't remember. This isn't supposed to happen when you have the fingerprint scanner set up to unlock the lock screen. So you end up having no security because anybody can swipe the screen and have access to your phone. I figured out how to sort of fix this and I already posted the solution.

Maybe I missed a post so just in case. There are two different types of timeouts. There is a "Screen Timeout" on the "Display" options that can be set and then there is a "Secure Time Lock" that can also be set under Lock Screen. Although they are separate things, you can get them to work together. Simply setting the fingerprint does not mean that when your Display "goes to sleep" that you will be prompted to use your fingerprint to access the device.

When I first setup my Note 4, I set my fingerprint and was expecting to immediately be prompted for it when unlocking my screen or after clicking on the Power button. This was not the case and I was just asked to swipe to unlock. It was not until later that I realized that the Secure Time Lock was set to 15 minutes and my Screen Timeout was set to 1 minute. Once I set the Secure Time Lock to "Instantly or when the screen times out" under Lock Screen, this was resolved.

So, if for example I want my screen to lock after five (5) minutes, I would set the "Secure Lock Time" to "instantly with the power key or with screen timeout" under the Lock Screen options. I would then go to Display and set the "Screen Timeout" to five (5) minutes.

 

[RTMobile]

Mine works great and I love it and still use it for "Lastpass", I don't use for home screen unlocking because then my wife can't unlock the phone.

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[harryhoudini66]

Mine works great and I love it and still use it for "Lastpass", I don't use for home screen unlocking because then my wife can't unlock the phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

She can. You can add her fingerprint on as well. She can also use the password instead of the fingerprint when prompted.

 

[efu671]

Set up is a breeze but getting it to unlock is very inconsistent - especially if you have dry skin on your fingers. Big annoyance is that if you fail, you have to wait to try and login again. Sometimes it works just right, other times I fail and have to wait. So I turned it off because I hate waiting to unlock my phone.

 

[anon(27512)]

I use it and it works surprisingly well.

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[Huggie87]

I use it as well and rarely have any problems with it

 

[anon(5719825)]

I tried it for a few hours and ended up wanting to throw the phone through the wall.

 

[ChemMan]

I use it all the time, flawlessly if I pay attention.

 

[natehoy]

I have to use a lock screen because I have work email on the device. I find the swipe always works -- always -- if I swipe at the same, slo-o-o-ow speed. Even if I had to do a second swipe, it's still better than punching in a password or pin. That said, I'd still prefer just being able to place my finger on the home button.

I have work email on my device, but unfortunately we use TouchDown and everything BUT "Password" is "Disabled by administrator, encryption policy, or credential storage". I'd actually set the timeout on my phone significantly lower if they'd let me use a 6-number PIN or fingerprint swipe, but no dice.

 

[kirksucks]

Set it up because I was curious. It worked pretty flawlessly but I never lock my phone. I constantly take it out and look at stuff. Swiping my finger every time would suck.

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[rong21]

wasn't impressed with it. Lost patience with it

 

[KBlack2595]

I use it all the time and it does have problems at times like when holding the phone and trying to unlock but even if I have 2 do it 2 or 3 times its faster than entering a password I think if it got a update where u could add more fingers or make it so u swipe more when setting it up then it would work a lot belter

 

[road_kill]

When I got my note E I went in and set it up first, I ran into the same problem where it would set the finger print but I would still get the swip screen to unlock untill I went into the screen lock settings and set it to instantly with power button or when screen times out. Now everything works fine. Sometimes it can be annoying but im still getting the hang of it.

 

[Skeediddley]

Use it all the time. Have set up both thumbs (including one handed hold and swipe angles) and with a bit of practice its getting better and better.

 

[stephfsch2013]

I don't use it because when I swipe it the case interferes with the swiping. Big pain.

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[AxiosENT]

I love it just takes time to get used to it

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

 

[mty msi]

I didn't take the time to read all 8 pages of this thread so I apologize if someone else already posted a similar thread. What I experienced was all of a sudden my scanner wouldn't recognize my fingerprint after about 2 1/2 months of working fairly well so I retrained it and it's backed to working fairly well. Reason I say fairly well is it usually takes 2-3 swipes to work and has always been that way. Sometimes it does work on the first swipe but most times not. Other thing I'll mention is I entered a different swipe for use in my car dock because the angle the phone is being swiped from is different than when you're holding the phone in your hand.

One thing is for certain, Apple's fingerprint reading mechanism is far superior to Samsung's.

 

[rexb]

I have the Note Edge (2 weeks) and it's a hit or miss for me. There are days it works great and days that it's not. And usually if your fingers are sweaty, good luck! I've also tried a friends iphone 6+ fingerprint scanner, it is way alot easier. Just press on the home button and you're done. She did say sometimes it doesn't work when fingers are sweaty as well.

I'm still using the fingerprint scanner. I just take a deep breath, pray then swipe to open my phone..ha ha..I do have the back-up password if in case it takes a few swipes.

 

[Alberto Suarez]

Yes you are right I set mine up and it works great I sometimes have difficulty when I apparently did not swipe my finger on the sensor properly otherwise I am very satisfied.

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[Neo_ii_Droid]

Yes you are right I set mine up and it works great I sometimes have difficulty when I apparently did not swipe my finger on the sensor properly otherwise I am very satisfied.

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First off, Hello Alberto Suarez and welcome to Android Central!

I tried it to see how it works, then simply disabled it all together. Not for me and my uses. Of course Your Methods May Vary accordingly so.