How to set up Touch ID on a MacBook
Touch ID lets you unlock your MacBook, fill in saved passwords and approve App Store or Apple Pay purchases by resting a finger on the sensor instead of typing. Your fingerprint is stored on a secure chip inside the Mac and never leaves it. This guide covers the System Settings app, which means macOS Ventura or later.
What you'll need: A MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with a Touch ID sensor — it's the key in the top-right corner of the keyboard, which doubles as the power button. You'll also need your Mac login password, as macOS asks for it once during setup.
Open System Settings
Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen, then click System Settings.
Go to Touch ID & Password
In the list down the left-hand side, click Touch ID & Password. You may need to scroll down to find it. Typing Touch ID into the search box at the top of the sidebar takes you there directly.
Add a fingerprint
Click Add Fingerprint. When macOS asks, type your login password and press Return.
Rest your finger on the sensor
Place one finger flat on the Touch ID key and hold it there until you feel a slight vibration or the fingerprint outline on screen fills in a little, then lift it off. Rest and lift the same finger several times as the on-screen prompt asks. Each touch adds a bit more of the outline.
Capture the edges of your finger
Once the centre is done, the prompt changes and asks you to adjust your grip. Keep resting and lifting the same finger, but tilt it each time so the sensor sees the sides, the tip and the lower part of the print. Continue until the outline is complete and the screen says Touch ID is ready.
Finish and name the fingerprint
Click Done. The new fingerprint appears in the Touch ID & Password pane with a default name such as Finger 1. To rename it, click the name and type something you'll recognise later, for example:
Right indexChoose what Touch ID is used for
Below the fingerprints is a list of switches. Turn on each one you want: Unlocking your Mac, Apple Pay, iTunes Store, App Store & Apple Books and Password AutoFill. Most people turn all of them on.
Test it
Hold down Control and Command and press Q to lock the Mac. Rest the finger you registered on the Touch ID key. The Mac should unlock without you typing anything.
If it asks for your password instead, type it, then see Troubleshooting below.
Variations
Go back to Touch ID & Password and click Add Fingerprint again. A finger on the other hand is the useful choice, so a plaster or a cut doesn't lock you out. Each user account can store up to three fingerprints.
An iMac, Mac mini or Mac Studio with an Apple silicon chip can use Touch ID through a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, sold separately. Pair the keyboard, then follow the same steps — the sensor is the key in the top-right corner of that keyboard. Intel-based desktop Macs don't support it.
In Touch ID & Password, move the pointer over the fingerprint you want to remove and click the small × that appears next to it. Type your password to confirm, then click Delete.
Troubleshooting
The Mac doesn't have a Touch ID sensor, or macOS can't see one. MacBooks with Touch ID have a flat key with no symbol on it in the top-right corner of the keyboard; older models have a physical power button or no button there at all. On a desktop Mac, check the Magic Keyboard is the Touch ID version and is paired and switched on.
This is by design in a handful of situations: after the Mac restarts or wakes from being shut down, if you haven't unlocked it for more than 48 hours, after five fingerprint attempts in a row fail, or after you change your login password. Type the password once and Touch ID takes over again.
Wet, greasy or very dry skin is the usual cause, and so is a smudged sensor. Dry your finger, wipe the Touch ID key with a clean, dry, lint-free cloth and try again. If one finger fails every time, remove that fingerprint and register it again, taking more care over the edges in step 5. A cut or peeling skin can stop a finger reading until it heals, which is why a second finger is worth registering.
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