TouchID Greyed Out

  • MacOS

Yesterday, I noticed when logging into my iMac I found that TouchID wasn’t an option, and had to type in my password. Not really a big deal, except this morning the same thing happened. I opened System Settings > TouchID and Password and discovered that all the settings were greyed out. Odd.

TouchID settings in MacOS settings

After reading through many support threads, each offering this solution or that solution – and some seemingly rather extreme in the mix – I found a comment at the very bottom of one (possibly about the third or fourth article I looked at) that was entirely different. It read:

Turning OFF the TouchID Keyboard then connect cable to computer and turning ON the keyboard will bring back functionality.

Source: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254374774

I tried this – actually not connecting the cable, and just turning it back on and letting the Bluetooth connect – and guess what? This totally worked. I didn’t even know there was a power button!

Apple Magic Keyboard with TouchID showing the power button on the leading edge

Sometimes the noise in a support thread is just completely overwhelming, but grateful I was able to find a simple fix.

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