According to some posts on the official OnePlus forums, quite a few users of the company’s second generation flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 2, seem to be having issues with the fingerprint scanner on the device. Reports about how the biometric sensor just stops responding randomly, are doing the rounds of the internet for several weeks now, and OnePlus has apparently also rolled out an update, but it has reportedly met with only limited success. One interesting thing to note however, is the lack of uniformity in the reason as to why the scanner just stops being responsive all of a sudden. While some users are reporting that the problem started once the device was flashed with custom kernels, yet others are reporting that touching the scanner with a wet finger is what’s resulted in the sensor becoming unresponsive.
What is really alarming though, is the fact that many users of the device are also reporting that the scanner just gets unresponsive randomly without any rhyme or reason. While for some, it starts working after a reboot, for others, there’s no such luck. Also, it’s not just the fingerprint scanner either, but the home button itself, which apparently gets unresponsive from time to time. OnePlus has seemingly taken cognizance of the reports and has already rolled out an attempted fix as mentioned already, but reports are mixed about how successful the update has been in its attempt to weed out the issue. Of course, software updates are only going to work as long as the problem lies with the software, which would be the best news that affected users can expect at this stage. If however, the problem lies with the sensor itself, it would be a long and winding road before – if – users can get any redressal for their grievance at all. The company actually rolled out a software update for the device back in September, which advanced the Oxygen OS version to 2.0.2 and supposedly helped improve the speed of the sensor.
According to some of the remedies being thrown around on the OnePlus Forums, clearing the cache service (com.oneplus.fingerprint.service) and resetting the device seems to be one of the ways to get it working back again. Some users have also reported taking the phone apart physically to check for any hardware issues that can be serviced by tech savvy users at home. Yet others are saying that it may well be a ‘grounding issue’, seeing as the home button itself may sometimes get unresponsive while touching the metallic body of the phone, but works fine when put down on a non-conducting surface like a wooden table etc. There is however, an easy workaround for the unresponsive home button. You’ll have to enable the optional on-screen navigation keys, but that won’t help the fingerprint scanner get back up and running again.