We’ve all been there. Those moments when you’re at the gym and you try to unlock your phone and it won’t work because you have sweaty fingers. Or, those times when you can’t unlock your phone because your fingers are wet. Or for a myriad of other reasons why your fingerprint won’t unlock your phone because, well, your print is not always the same.

We may have all faced this situation a few times, but most of us do not know that there’s something that can be done about it.

Smartphones are Smart

Did you know that your phone can recognize more than one fingerprint? So let’s say that you want your phone to unlock when you have wet fingers, right? All you have to do is wet your finger or thumb, and then use that print as a backup print - same goes for sweaty or sticky or dough-covered fingers.

By the way, smartphones have more bacteria than most public toilet seats. Yeah, think about that the next time you “need” to have your phone when using the bathroom! So how complicated is it to unlock your phone with an alternate fingerprint? Just go to the Settings tab, find the fingerprint scanner option, and add different prints.

Recommendations

I recommend adding different finger prints to the scanner and not just one fingerprint. For example, you may want to add your index or pinky finger print to the scanner instead of trying to add a wet or sticky finger. This way, you can just use a clean finger when you want to unlock your phone. But it can be done.

The option to add numerous prints to a phone probably wasn’t created so that you could account for dirty fingers. That option was created so that more than one person could unlock a phone. So if you want to make sure that your spouse can unlock your phone or that your kids can unlock it (and use your phone in child mode), all you have to do is add those fingerprints.

Another Brilliant Idea\t

Some phones may even like that you’re adding more than one print or adding a print numerous times. Do you remember when you first went through the setup of your phone and you were asked to leave your finger on the print button a few times? This was so that your phone could recognize your print at various angles or at all times.

While there are times that your phone may not recognize your fingerprints, for the most part fingerprint IDs are very secure. In fact, it’s hard not to find a phone without a fingerprint scanning option these days.

Then again, some companies like Google are working on even more secure biometrics for phones and tablets and other devices.

Unlocking a phone by moving your body a certain way may become a reality sometime soon. You may also have to breathe into a phone one day. All of this is really in the works right now, as futuristic as it may seem. For now, though, do yourself a favor and add another print to your phone.