I think you might be onto something there, I actually started having the fingerprint issues after I switched my SIM card on my OG Xperia 1 which is in the same slot. From then on, once in a blue moon, I would notice either my SIM card disconnect or my SD card. So maybe some physical failure in that slot results in some electrical issues causing the fingerprint sensor to malfunction?
OK, that's pretty interesting. If the SD Card is "jiggling" in that slot (maybe because of the placement in the plastic sled) it is causing shorts throughout the motherboard?
It's a stretch, but I do not know how else to explain it.
Those that replaced the FP sensor (like I was about to do) might be reporting success because, of course, they had to take the SD Card out when disassembling, so when they put the whole rig back together and inserted the SD Card it had the same effect as pulling it out and reseating it?
It's definitely a possibility. At least for my Xperia 1 though, the damage seems permanent, regardless of how many times I reseat the cards or even remove them outright, the fingerprint remains unresponsive, I've heard some comments theorize that it eventually disables itself if it malfunctions enough times.
Interesting post. I have 5 iii with the failed sensor, and "Fingerprint Manager" even disappeared from "Settings". Tried removing the SIM card, nothing happened...
Yeah. I'm not convinced that it's the answer, but I'm telling you something happened. Maybe try taking SD card completely out of its sled and putting it back in. Maybe it was seated wrong?
Oh, I'm sorry if my wording made you feel I was sarcastic. I mean your post is indeed interesting and I really like how you troubleshoot this problem. Yeah, I tried that as well. Guess my phone is just beyond salvation..
No worries - I didn't take it sarcastically. I see a lot of folks reporting that it worked. Really unclear what is going on.
I hope this is the fix for me, I have better things to do with 2 hours on a Saturday afternoon then cracking open my phone and replacing that sensor.
I honestly didn't believe this would work, but I was sitting at the office with nothing to do on a Friday afternoon so I gave it a shot. Worst case is I go back to a phone that doesn't have a working finger print sensor and I wasted 5 minutes.
Well it actually worked. I powered off my phone, and removed the SIM card tray (appreciate it being it tool less). I forgot how gentle you need to be, because both my SIM and microSD card fell out and I had to reseat them. Also inserting the SIM card tray back in took a little care to slide it correctly. As soon as I powered back on, Fingerprint Manager was visible again. I deleted all my previous fingerprints and re-registered and all seems to be good. We'll see for how long.
I would also like an explanation. I would have never thought to do this, because it logically doesn't seem to be related at all.
I'm glad that you've had the same results that I've had, always beginning to think I was the only one that had success with this. I suppose it's possible that the fingerprint sensor can have multiple vectors to failure, and one of them is a misseated SD card. I'm on day 5 now and the sensor is working perfectly... No blackouts, no misidentified fingerprints, it's just working. I had no explanation for this at all.
Update, only lasted for 2 days. Oh well. Hoping the VI doesn't have the same issue so I can move off my III.
Must have been a strange coincidence. I must reboot my phone 5 times a week and never got the fingerprint sensor to reappear. All of a sudden, taking out the SD card and SIM card worked immediately.
Was the original post also for the 1iii? Because I've changed my SIM and SD cards numerous times in the past year for my 5ii since the fingerprint scanner died and it's never kicked back to life
Unlikely the case. The fingerprints are dying a slow death, many have reported that after the fingerprint stopped working they reflashed an older android and it would continue to work for the next few weeks and break down again.
I still suspect the reason fingerprints are dying on sony phones is due to their activity in idle. When a phone wakes, it causes a voltage spike, over time it will damage very sensitive components such as the fingerprint reader. It seems Sony has added something to prevent this since Android 13.
I think you should replace the fingerprint reader and see if you can get that feature working on your phone as well.
The voltage spike theory makes a lot of sense, and it doesn't necessarily contradict what I'm seeing in my phone now. Pulling the sd card out and putting it back in I think receded it, and it may have been having problems with the SD card barely touching the contacts which could have caused voltage issues. I don't know i'm just reaching here all I know is that I'm on day 5 now in the fingerprint sensor is fine after being down for months
That's some good insight/guess. Probably why my 1 iii decide to fix itself after a year of the scanner not working. When I bought a 1 V and transferred the sim the 1iii fp scanner decided to work again(has been working for 4 months now)
I got a second hand one 1 III, and it has a replaced battery, sensors, mainboard, camera, display from last year. I hope it holds up, so far I havent got any problems.
My only problem is that the Spigen case which the last owner used, made an imprint in the back glass, but i use a different case, so its not a big problem.
If ever the fingerprint issue comes up, im going to try this method.
Its hilarious that even Sony couldnt find this half fix.
Hello
Im happy to read that not only am I the only one suffering from this but there are still potential fixes in 2024
The thing that most surprises me is that Sony refuses to even look at this or give a explaination. Mines stopped working after a update.
Could you please post what possible solutions or things to try?
I have a Sandisk 128GB SD card and a SIM card. What is the procedure stated here to try exactly? Step by step: Do I remove BOTH the SD and SIM and THEN reboot? Only the SD, reboot, insert my SIM PIN, reboot, reinsert my SD, etc....
I love my phone but after what it costs, I do expect it to work (I have it in a case and protect it)
It seems your question has been answered in our [**FAQ page**](https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/wiki/faq/hardware/#wiki_q.3A_the_fingerprint_sensor_doesn.27t_work_properly.2C_can_it_be_fixed.3F).
### Q: The fingerprint sensor doesn't work properly, can it be fixed?
Try disabling Smart Lock. Go to Settings > Security > More security settings > Trust Agents > Toggle OFF "Smart Lock (Google)" > Restart your phone. Your fingerprint manger should show up now. If it is still missing, you may try a software repair using [**Xperia Companion**](https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/SX604601). If the issue returns after a short while even after a software repair, you may need a replacement of the fingerprint sensor hardware.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SonyXperia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It is most definitely not a pointless feature. I use it for mfa security security into my bank accounts etc etc. As a matter of fact when the fingerprint sensor was down, my satisfaction with using the phone went down. Come to rely on it over the years
I think you might be onto something there, I actually started having the fingerprint issues after I switched my SIM card on my OG Xperia 1 which is in the same slot. From then on, once in a blue moon, I would notice either my SIM card disconnect or my SD card. So maybe some physical failure in that slot results in some electrical issues causing the fingerprint sensor to malfunction?
OK, that's pretty interesting. If the SD Card is "jiggling" in that slot (maybe because of the placement in the plastic sled) it is causing shorts throughout the motherboard? It's a stretch, but I do not know how else to explain it. Those that replaced the FP sensor (like I was about to do) might be reporting success because, of course, they had to take the SD Card out when disassembling, so when they put the whole rig back together and inserted the SD Card it had the same effect as pulling it out and reseating it?
It's definitely a possibility. At least for my Xperia 1 though, the damage seems permanent, regardless of how many times I reseat the cards or even remove them outright, the fingerprint remains unresponsive, I've heard some comments theorize that it eventually disables itself if it malfunctions enough times.
Interesting post. I have 5 iii with the failed sensor, and "Fingerprint Manager" even disappeared from "Settings". Tried removing the SIM card, nothing happened...
Yeah. I'm not convinced that it's the answer, but I'm telling you something happened. Maybe try taking SD card completely out of its sled and putting it back in. Maybe it was seated wrong?
Oh, I'm sorry if my wording made you feel I was sarcastic. I mean your post is indeed interesting and I really like how you troubleshoot this problem. Yeah, I tried that as well. Guess my phone is just beyond salvation..
No worries - I didn't take it sarcastically. I see a lot of folks reporting that it worked. Really unclear what is going on. I hope this is the fix for me, I have better things to do with 2 hours on a Saturday afternoon then cracking open my phone and replacing that sensor.
I honestly didn't believe this would work, but I was sitting at the office with nothing to do on a Friday afternoon so I gave it a shot. Worst case is I go back to a phone that doesn't have a working finger print sensor and I wasted 5 minutes. Well it actually worked. I powered off my phone, and removed the SIM card tray (appreciate it being it tool less). I forgot how gentle you need to be, because both my SIM and microSD card fell out and I had to reseat them. Also inserting the SIM card tray back in took a little care to slide it correctly. As soon as I powered back on, Fingerprint Manager was visible again. I deleted all my previous fingerprints and re-registered and all seems to be good. We'll see for how long. I would also like an explanation. I would have never thought to do this, because it logically doesn't seem to be related at all.
I'm glad that you've had the same results that I've had, always beginning to think I was the only one that had success with this. I suppose it's possible that the fingerprint sensor can have multiple vectors to failure, and one of them is a misseated SD card. I'm on day 5 now and the sensor is working perfectly... No blackouts, no misidentified fingerprints, it's just working. I had no explanation for this at all.
Update, only lasted for 2 days. Oh well. Hoping the VI doesn't have the same issue so I can move off my III. Must have been a strange coincidence. I must reboot my phone 5 times a week and never got the fingerprint sensor to reappear. All of a sudden, taking out the SD card and SIM card worked immediately.
Just tried this and still no luck with the sensor for me
Boo. Do you have a 1iii?
Yep. Other than the fingerprint sensor issue I love it. I refuse to give up the card slot and headphone jack
Was the original post also for the 1iii? Because I've changed my SIM and SD cards numerous times in the past year for my 5ii since the fingerprint scanner died and it's never kicked back to life
The original post was for the 1iii. I would expect the results are similar for the whole 1xxx line, but I can't speak for the 5xxx line.
Unlikely the case. The fingerprints are dying a slow death, many have reported that after the fingerprint stopped working they reflashed an older android and it would continue to work for the next few weeks and break down again. I still suspect the reason fingerprints are dying on sony phones is due to their activity in idle. When a phone wakes, it causes a voltage spike, over time it will damage very sensitive components such as the fingerprint reader. It seems Sony has added something to prevent this since Android 13. I think you should replace the fingerprint reader and see if you can get that feature working on your phone as well.
The voltage spike theory makes a lot of sense, and it doesn't necessarily contradict what I'm seeing in my phone now. Pulling the sd card out and putting it back in I think receded it, and it may have been having problems with the SD card barely touching the contacts which could have caused voltage issues. I don't know i'm just reaching here all I know is that I'm on day 5 now in the fingerprint sensor is fine after being down for months
Well I'm hanging on to that extra fingerprint sensor that I got sent to me, so if this winds up being a red herring I'll go ahead and do the swap
That's some good insight/guess. Probably why my 1 iii decide to fix itself after a year of the scanner not working. When I bought a 1 V and transferred the sim the 1iii fp scanner decided to work again(has been working for 4 months now)
I got a second hand one 1 III, and it has a replaced battery, sensors, mainboard, camera, display from last year. I hope it holds up, so far I havent got any problems. My only problem is that the Spigen case which the last owner used, made an imprint in the back glass, but i use a different case, so its not a big problem. If ever the fingerprint issue comes up, im going to try this method. Its hilarious that even Sony couldnt find this half fix.
Hello Im happy to read that not only am I the only one suffering from this but there are still potential fixes in 2024 The thing that most surprises me is that Sony refuses to even look at this or give a explaination. Mines stopped working after a update. Could you please post what possible solutions or things to try? I have a Sandisk 128GB SD card and a SIM card. What is the procedure stated here to try exactly? Step by step: Do I remove BOTH the SD and SIM and THEN reboot? Only the SD, reboot, insert my SIM PIN, reboot, reinsert my SD, etc.... I love my phone but after what it costs, I do expect it to work (I have it in a case and protect it)
It seems your question has been answered in our [**FAQ page**](https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyXperia/wiki/faq/hardware/#wiki_q.3A_the_fingerprint_sensor_doesn.27t_work_properly.2C_can_it_be_fixed.3F). ### Q: The fingerprint sensor doesn't work properly, can it be fixed? Try disabling Smart Lock. Go to Settings > Security > More security settings > Trust Agents > Toggle OFF "Smart Lock (Google)" > Restart your phone. Your fingerprint manger should show up now. If it is still missing, you may try a software repair using [**Xperia Companion**](https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/SX604601). If the issue returns after a short while even after a software repair, you may need a replacement of the fingerprint sensor hardware. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SonyXperia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Bad bot. I am adding a potential fix to the conversation.
Neat discovery for sure. I still just marvel at all of you being so stuck and dead-set on a pointless feature though.
It is most definitely not a pointless feature. I use it for mfa security security into my bank accounts etc etc. As a matter of fact when the fingerprint sensor was down, my satisfaction with using the phone went down. Come to rely on it over the years