I’ve moved from the Google Pixel 4A, which had an excellent fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone, to the 7A.

I won’t sugarcoat it: in my experience the fingerprint sensor, now an optical sensor on the front of the phone, is near useless. It fails to read my finger/thumb print basically ~95% of the time, which means it can’t be used for any account that may lock the user out following ‘x’ unsuccessful login attempts.

I really don’t get why they shipped the feature with the phone given how unacceptably bad it is to use.

Is this a common opinion shared amongst 7A users? Is there something wrong with my phone, or am I missing something? I’d welcome any advice, as I would quite like to get this working reliably.

  • anowhereEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    Another “tip”… If your fingertip is dry, lightly moisten it, then try the sensor again.

    My 7a fingerprint sensor with a Spigen glass screen protecter works fine about 95% of the time. When it doesn’t, quick lick of the fingertip and that usually does the trick.

    • carnhaEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      For my 6a, when it gives me trouble I’ve run my finger against the outside of my nose and tried again - that’s consistently worked for me.