iPhone 7 Plus sometimes wants passcode to unlock phone.

[felloffthetruck]

I leave my iPhone on 24/7 and every now and then it will require me to enter my passcode in order to use Touch ID and access my phone.
This just happens out of the blue and it's almost like the phone has rebooted on it's own while in standby.

Anyone else have this problem?

 

[kch50428]

My iPhone6 will do it if I haven't used the touchID for a while...

 

[Tartarus]

I haven't had this happening for me.
Only sometimes when it doesn't recognize my fingerprint after multiple times trying.

 

[Ecm]

I leave my iPhone on 24/7 and every now and then it will require me to enter my passcode in order to use Touch ID and access my phone.
This just happens out of the blue and it's almost like the phone has rebooted on it's own while in standby.

Anyone else have this problem?

I saw the same question posted in the Apple support forums (IIRC). It's not a bug, but a planned behavior. Security reasons.

 

[felloffthetruck]

So, is the phone actually rebooting or just demanding the password every few days?

 

[Quis89]

I believe there is a threshold. If the phone hasn't been unlocked in a certain period of time it will ask for the passcode the next time you use it. For example, if you haven't touched your phone in 24 hours it will require you to enter your passcode to unlock it.

 

[Ecm]

So, is the phone actually rebooting or just demanding the password every few days?

It's not rebooting, just asking for the passcode.

 

[maha_wasim]

Yes really upgrade to iOS 10 in iPhone 6 and 7 has made the phones harder to unlock. I feel little annoyed and have the sluggish feeling when I see that kepad appearance. But the fact is that if your phone is idle for 48 hour then fingerprint won't help you and that is just for the security reason so no need to worry about

 

[doogald]

I leave my iPhone on 24/7 and every now and then it will require me to enter my passcode in order to use Touch ID and access my phone.
This just happens out of the blue and it's almost like the phone has rebooted on it's own while in standby.

Anyone else have this problem?

Do you mean that the phone says that you must enter passcode after a restart, even though you did not restart the phone? And everything else about restarting was the same (i.e., the phone was not connected to WiFi until after the phone was unlocked with the passcode?)

Yes, I have seen this. It happened a few times, maybe once a day or two, for a few days about a month or two ago, shortly after I installed the weather app "Dark Sky". It stopped right after I uninstalled, except once two nights ago. (I have an iPhone 6s, and this was on 10.0.1, IIRC.) So, my suspicion was that it was app related.

 

[ndirishfan1975]

It is a security feature. If you haven't entered your passcode in a certain number of days and haven't unlocked your phone in over 8 hours it requires the passcode. On a side not you should definitely power cycle your phone every couple weeks. Leaving them on 24/7 can lead to problems. Simply turning it off for a few seconds and restarting can help performance immensely.

 

[felloffthetruck]

Do you mean that the phone says that you must enter passcode after a restart, even though you did not restart the phone? And everything else about restarting was the same (i.e., the phone was not connected to WiFi until after the phone was unlocked with the passcode?)

Yes, I have seen this. It happened a few times, maybe once a day or two, for a few days about a month or two ago, shortly after I installed the weather app "Dark Sky". It stopped right after I uninstalled, except once two nights ago. (I have an iPhone 6s, and this was on 10.0.1, IIRC.) So, my suspicion was that it was app related.

And I also have the Dark Sky weather app. :crying:

 

[klecke]

I have seen it a few times.

 

[DLieSaS]

I'v experienced the same thing – it's really weird, there seems to be no reason or rhythm behind it…

 

[erwaso]

It's normal. Happens in my 6S more than my 7+ but I don't mind it since it's semi security feature.

 

[cwbcpa]

If you have not used Touch ID to unlock the device in the last eight hours it will require the passcode. It's a security feature, not an issue.

 

[hudss]

This was done due to a court decision. A recent ruling can force to unlock phones by fingerprint, but passcodes are still protected.
The Fifth Amendment means that nobody can be compelled to reveal their passcode, but two separate courts have ruled that there is no protection against providing a fingerprint to unlock the phone.

So Apple answered by updating the OS sometine during 9.x to force to use your passcode when idle for 8 hours and also every 6 days if your passcode has not been used.

 

[doogald]

This was done due to a court decision. A recent ruling can force to unlock phones by fingerprint, but passcodes are still protected.
The Fifth Amendment means that nobody can be compelled to reveal their passcode, but two separate courts have ruled that there is no protection against providing a fingerprint to unlock the phone.

So Apple answered by updating the OS sometine during 9.x to force to use your passcode when idle for 8 hours and also every 6 days if your passcode has not been used.

Just to be complete, in Massachusetts, if the government knows that you can decrypt a device with a passcode, your fifth amendment right against self-incrimination does not apply. Basically the MA Supreme Judicial Court found that the fact that the government knows that you can decrypt a device means that actually decrypting the device is not giving the government more information. It's a rather deluded ruling, but that's the way things stand where I live.

 

[nikkisharif]

Just to be complete, in Massachusetts, if the government knows that you can decrypt a device with a passcode, your fifth amendment right against self-incrimination does not apply. Basically the MA Supreme Judicial Court found that the fact that the government knows that you can decrypt a device means that actually decrypting the device is not giving the government more information. It's a rather deluded ruling, but that's the way things stand where I live.

I live here too & Mass is like it's own country because it has a totally different set of rules for damn near everything

 

[Ledsteplin]

5 unsuccessful tries with touch ID causes it to ask for the passcode.

 

[doogald]

5 unsuccessful tries with touch ID causes it to ask for the passcode.

Very true. However, in the case that I had (and had several times back when I installed Dark Sky), the lock screen had the message that the passcode was required after the phone was restarted. When you have 5 bad Touch ID attempts, the lock screen doesn't have a message about the phone restarting.