iPhone 6s Plus Touch ID Much Quicker Than iPhone 6 Plus in New Hands-On Video

With the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, one well-known hardware feature got a substantial upgrade: Touch ID. Apple improved the Touch ID sensor, allowing it to recognize fingerprints faster than it could previously. We went hands-on with the brand new iPhone 6s Plus and compared its improved Touch ID sensor to the one in the iPhone 6 Plus.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

The 6s Plus' Touch ID unlocks the phone almost instantaneously, taking a user straight to their Home Screen when they rest their finger on it. Comparatively, the speed of the 6 Plus' Touch ID makes it seem like a two-step feature, first waking up the display and then taking a user to the Home Screen.

On first impression, some users think the new Touch ID is too fast, however. Reddit user MasterofLuiz notes that it's so fast it affects how he usually uses his phone.

I can't even click the home button to check the clock without it automatically unlocking the phone. It's crazy

MacRumors forum member mykaluk has attempted to best the speed of the new Touch ID, attempting to tap the Home Button so quickly that it doesn't read his fingerprint. However, he notes that the Touch ID is able to read the fingerprint every time.

Be sure to check out the iPhone forum to join the discussion about the two new phones and their new features, or visit the iPhone accessories forum to see how the new cases look on the new devices, or whether existing cases fit the new devices. If you'd like to find out which apps take advantage of 3D Touch, make sure to check out the iOS Apps forum.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

MacFan782040 Avatar
127 months ago
Too fast? Just unlock the phone with the sleep/wake button and not the home button.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hurleyint1386 Avatar
127 months ago
With the new 3D Touch, I'd like to force touch my display to turn it on for notifications to prevent it from auto-unlocking. I noticed that it unlocks much faster and I lose my home screen notifications.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JohnApples Avatar
127 months ago
On first impression ('https://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/25/iphone-6s-reader-first-impressions/'), some users think the new Touch ID is two fast, however. Reddit ('https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/3md414/the_iphone_6s_plus_touch_id_speed_is_insane/') user MasterofLuiz ('https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/3md414/the_iphone_6s_plus_touch_id_speed_is_insane/cveb9m8') notes that it's so fast it affects how he usually uses his phone.
"Too" fast you mean? :D

I think it's funny that some are complaining it's too fast. Lots of people saying it was too slow before with the 5S/6. Can't win can they lol.

I think it's great that it's "too fast". My dad refuses to use Touch ID because he says it's too slow (despite it taking no longer than manually "sliding to unlock"). He would definitely approve of this.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CmdrThor Avatar
127 months ago
No need to press the home button to check the clock when you have an Apple Watch :)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Piggie Avatar
127 months ago
Why do we have so many "Dumb" people here? :(

Or course something can be too fast, just in the same way it can be too slow.
We seem to have people here who cannot grasp this.

If the Apple watch showed you the time and turned the screen off after 1 second, it would be too fast, and would need to be slowed down a bit.
The mouse speed in Windows and OSX has adjusters so that you can set things between slow and fast depending on your preference.

Why do we have so many numb nuts who don't understand that a feature that a human being has to interact with has to be set at a speed that's most comfortable for humans to use.
Too fast can be just as bad as too slow.

In an ideal world, a feature like TouchID would work instantly, and then you would have a small slider under settings to adjust how fast it reacted, then each user, old people and young children etc, could set a response speed that felt most comfortable to them.

It's not, as they say "Rocket Science" folks.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Oblivious.Robot Avatar
127 months ago
I'm hoping so! Though I'm not going to hold my breath. I may be pleasantly surprised come next year!

But... If they DID implement Touch ID into the screen.. how would you unlock your phone? Hit the sleep/wake button, then Touch ID to unlock? Or would the screen wake up just from sensing a touch? If the latter, wouldn't the screen potentially wake up from a lot of unintentional touches?
It's going to need some serious amount of work and effort when they design those devices.
That's why it'll be so much worth it!

I for one think that would sell like hot cakes, I'd probably buy two and I don't even know why. :D
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)