Touch ID

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 (App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple Books Store), 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 the iPhone 5s in 2013.^[1] 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. Touch ID has been used on all iPads since the iPad Air 2 was introduced in 2014. In MacBooks, each user account can have up to three fingerprints, and a total of five fingerprints across the system.^[2] Fingerprint information is stored locally in a secure enclave on the Apple A7 and later chips, not in the cloud, a design choice intended to secure fingerprint information from users or malicious attackers.

Touch ID was retained on iPhone 8, 2nd generation iPhone SE, 3rd generation iPhone SE, and the base model iPads, while all other iPhones since the iPhone X in 2017, and the higher-end iPad Pro have adopted Face ID recognition. Several iPads that do not have FaceID, such as the iPad Air (4th-generation and onwards), iPad Mini (6th-generation and onwards), and the iPad (10th-generation and onwards), feature a new sleep/wake button with an integrated Touch ID sensor.

In 2020, 2021 and 2022, Apple unveiled a new Magic Keyboard with optional Touch ID for its line of iMacs, Mac Studios, and Mac minis, and also the MacBook Pro.