iPhone has made it easier to use face unlock if you're wearing a mask

[Jason]

It seems a little late for this pandemic but maybe it'll help for future ones. And there WILL be future pandemics, probably sooner than we'd like.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/970100?uac=195998PR&faf=1&sso=true&impID=4081755&src=wnl_edit_tpal

[fox]

The one downside to my Samsung Galaxy S20 phone is recognition. It has face recognition and fingerprint recognition. Neither seems to work any more than 50% of the time. My iPad is 100% for facial recognition, though I haven't tried it with a mask.

[Jason]

Do you make a habit of sanitizing your phone when you bring it home? If so, what you use could be leaving a film on the camera and fingerprint reader. I just isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) on mine when I get home and I never spray the phone directly, always onto a kleenex which I then wipe it with. I'm wondering because it seems strange for both to be that unreliable at the same time. I just use fingerprint recognition on mine but retrained it when it didn't seem to be working as well.

[fox]

No, I do not sanitize it. I do clean it regularly, however. Also I have tried twice retraining the fingerprint scan, to no avail.

[Jason]

No, I do not sanitize it. I do clean it regularly, however. Also I have tried twice retraining the fingerprint scan, to no avail.

What do you clean it with?

I wonder if a factory reset might help. In any case, using a PIN is better security than a fingerprint or face unlock anyway (assuming a long-enough random PIN). At least that's what Android tells me. But the fingerprint unlock is just so darn inconvenient. I'm guessing it's not under warranty?

[fox]

What do you clean it with?

I wonder if a factory reset might help. .... I'm guessing it's not under warranty?

I clean it with a cloth and a liquid screen cleaner made by Polaroid. Wouldn't a factory reset remove some of my apps and settings? And no, it's not under warranty. I haven't bought a new phone since the iPhone 4; I typically buy a 1+ or 2 year old flagship phone, so no warranty. In the case of Samsung, others have reported the fingerprint problem.

[Jason]

I clean it with a cloth and a liquid screen cleaner made by Polaroid. Wouldn't a factory reset remove some of my apps and settings?

Have you always used this screen cleaner? I know that Apple used to tell people not to use cleaners on their phones. I think that I read that screens have a special coating on them and it's probably the same with Samsung phones. But if the cleaner was meant for lenses, I can't see the problem.

A factory reset would put the phone back to its original state, yes.

When you set up the phone, I believe Google asked if you wanted to back up your apps and settings in the future. So when the phone starts up after a reset and you log in, it should read back all the apps (and settings, data, etc) in. I'm not guaranteeing it (why I say *should*) but that's the way Google does their backups/restores. And if your apps are installed to a storage card, the apps won't be removed, I don't think.

I've never had problems with this in the past unless the app didn't do its backups to Google. You'd know that's the case because the app would offer to back up to a non-Google source. I have a couple of games that are like this. I have to back up to Facebook or another social media app that I don't remember. Actually, it just says I connect to it but it does the same thing. I have to re-install the app, set up the connection again and it restores my game settings and where I am.

[Jason]

Samsung seems to do it a bit different than vanilla Android but this should work:

https://www.wikihow.com/How-Do-I-Reset-My-Android-Without-Losing-Data

[Jason]

I don't know if it will help. It's just something to try.

Have you tried googling the problem? I found this site mentioning possible solutions. Most were obvious but they mentioned one possibility that could possibly work without a factory reset, wiping the system cache. Scroll down near the bottom of the page. They also mentioned recalibrating (setting up a new fingerprint) but you probably already tried that.

How to fix fingerprint not working on Android

Still, a long shot but won't hurt to try.

[fox]

Thanks, Jason. Those ideas and references are helpful. One thing I did this morning was to add yet another fingerprint of the same thumb. So far it actually seems better. The "fix fingerprint" article mentioned problems with dirt and oil on fingers; I'll bet that is part of the problem. The S20 has the fingerprint reader on the display, whereas my previous S9 had it on a button on the side. The latter worked much better, and I doubt that my fingers were any cleaner. The Apple button on my wife's SE2 also works better. As far as the face image goes, the S20 is pretty good when I remember exactly how to position my face, but my iPad never fails and I don't have to be mindful of my facial position relative to the display. You can draw your own conclusions.

[Jason]

Glad to hear it's working better. It sounded strange to me to have the fingerprint reader on the front and then I remember that it's how they do it on iPhones, too, right? My wife's iPad has a fingerprint reader on the front button.

On my Motorola, it's on the back, where you'd expect a logo to be and indeed it has the stylized 'M'. I initially found it a bit temperamental when I first used it and then I set it up again and it only fails to work if I've been eating (e.g. oily fingers) or my fingers are wet from washing them. I think it takes a few tries sometimes to get the actual way you position your fingers and not the way you 'think' you position them when training it.

I don't use face unlock but I do have it set up that when it's at home, it stays unlocked. And I can look at the screen and the display turns on automatically. I think that's a Motorola feature, or at least was. Android might have it in the later versions now.

[fox]

The rear fingerprint reader worked much better on my S9 than the screen reader does on my S20. At least until now. I now have three right thumbprints stored on the phone. If I have more trouble, I might try a "dirty finger" as a 4th.