iPhone Duo Owners Share Touch ID Tricks. For $1,999, I Want Face ID

An iPhone Duo owner posted a tip on Reddit’s r/iPhoneDuo, and MacRumors picked it up with the headline “Arguably Better Than Face ID.” The idea is simple. Instead of registering only the pad of your finger, you register the lower segment of your index finger, the part that naturally rests on the side button when you pick up the phone. The phone then unlocks as you lift it, almost like Face ID. Another Duo owner on the MacRumors forums confirmed it works for him.

The iPhone Duo is the first iPhone with Touch ID in the side button. Apple has used that design on the iPad Air and iPad mini since 2020, but the last iPhone with Touch ID, the 2022 iPhone SE, had it in the Home button. The Duo has no Face ID, because its thin folding halves leave no room for the depth-sensing parts.

	Touch ID (iPhone Duo)	Face ID (iPhone 18 Pro)	Apple Watch unlock
Where	Side button	Front camera system	Watch on your wrist
Chance a stranger unlocks it (Apple)	1 in 50,000	1 in 1,000,000	Needs your unlocked watch nearby
Apple Pay, passwords, banking apps	Yes	Yes	No, Touch ID still needed
Works with a mask or lying in bed	Yes	Mostly	Yes
Phone price	$1,999	$1,199	Series 9, Ultra 2, SE 3 or later

In this article: How to set up the Touch ID tip · MacRumors makes a big deal of everything · A screen behind a screen · Self-comfort for $1,999 · “You can’t afford it”? Most people just think · Touch ID was never bad. Just not at this price · The real shame: the cheaper iPhones · I would not go back · Samsung and Google did it for years · One more fingerprint? Your call · Face ID in the Duo 2? More like the Duo 10 · FAQ

How to set up the Touch ID tip

If you have a Duo, try it. Open Settings, go to Touch ID & Passcode, and tap Add a Fingerprint. When the phone asks you to place your finger, put the lower segment of your index finger on the side button, the way you hold the phone in your hand every day. Apple lets you save up to five fingerprints, so you do not lose your normal one.

It does not work for everyone. It depends on the size of your hand, how you hold the phone and your case. One owner on the MacRumors forums said that with a case, he has to hold the phone tighter. And do not worry about paying by accident: Apple Pay still needs a double-click of the side button.

MacRumors makes a big deal of everything

MacRumors, as always, makes a big deal out of everything. “Better than Face ID” is a nice headline, but for me, the truth is simpler: on a foldable, there is no other option. I have said it before: nobody can cheat physics. We know Face ID needs much more space than a fingerprint sensor. So owners do not choose Touch ID because it is better. They have nothing else.

A screen behind a screen

And do not forget what a foldable means. Folded, it is two parts. Unfolded, each part is too thin to fit Face ID. When you take the phone in your hand, Face ID would have to sit in the half with the outer screen. And right under that screen is the second one, the inner display. I really do not know how Apple wants to fight with that.

Yes, the iPhone Air is thin and has Face ID. But the Air is not that thin everywhere. In one place, the raised part where Face ID and the cameras sit, it is thicker. In the Duo, there is no room for a raised part like that, because behind the outer display is another display. Maybe Apple makes one half much thicker, like a normal iPhone. That makes no sense to me. Maybe they make Face ID thinner, but I think that will be very hard. Or maybe they find another alternative. I am curious, and I am curious if it will come at all.

Self-comfort for $1,999

Commenters on MacRumors call the tip “cope,” and the top comment says it is “some very high-level cope.” I agree. What is left for Duo owners? Only self-comfort, saying it is better, it is cool. Nobody will say “yuck” now. Right now, everybody shows how good the phone is.

But I think those are mostly the people who really waited too long for a foldable from Apple. They paid, they waited, and now they need to believe it was worth it. In my opinion, the “better than Face ID” tip is exactly that: a way to feel good about a compromise.

“You can’t afford it”? Most people just think

There is another thing I see everywhere. Duo owners tell everyone who criticizes the phone that they just cannot afford it. The truth is different. A lot of people think rationally. They look at the price, the compromises and the bugs, and they say no. That is not about money.

And the people who write everywhere “you can’t afford it” are, for me, people who want to prove they are above everyone else. A phone is not a medal.

Touch ID was never bad. Just not at this price

And why do people do all this? Touch ID is not that bad. I never heard of a stranger just unlocking an older iPhone with Touch ID in normal life. It was really nice to use. I do not take it as something bad.

We only know it is the cheaper option. And when we pay a lot of money for a phone, we want the best. That is what chokes us. Not the fingerprint itself, but the feeling that for the most expensive iPhone, you got the cheaper solution.

The real shame: the cheaper iPhones

Here is where it really hurts. Right now, the iPhone 18 Pro costs $1,199, and it has Face ID and a telephoto camera. The Duo costs $1,999, and it has a fingerprint. And even last year’s regular iPhone 17 has, on Apple’s own spec sheet, the better autofocus system: “100% Focus Pixels,” while the Duo gets “Hybrid Focus Pixels,” the same label as the budget iPhone 17e. For me, the regular iPhone simply has the better camera.

And in spring, the base iPhone 18 should arrive, rumored from $899. I am sure that is the moment when people start showing off the most: “I paid half and I have Face ID and a better camera.” That will really be a shame for the Duo. Unless Apple gives the iPhone 18 a worse camera so the Duo does not look so bad. I hope not. That would be truly embarrassing for Apple.

I would not go back

Would it bother me to go back to a fingerprint? Probably yes. I am so used to Face ID that I cannot imagine how I could stay without it. Touch ID really was not bad, but it had its time. Not now.

Samsung and Google did it for years

Yes, it is true: Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold and Google’s Pixel Fold have had the fingerprint sensor in the side button from the start. And funny enough, these are the phones John Ternus called “cheap and crappy”. Now the Duo unlocks the same way.

But as I said, foldables do not have as much room as we would like, and we have to accept what they can offer us. Or buy a phone that has everything you need, and then do not cry on the internet that you do not like this or that. I said it: the Duo is a pretty phone, too pretty, but with a lot of compromises. A lot. And a lot of bugs, only a few days after sales started.

One more fingerprint? Your call

Every extra fingerprint slightly raises the chance of a false match, because the phone compares your finger with more saved prints. By Apple’s numbers, Touch ID is already 1 in 50,000, and Face ID 1 in 1,000,000. Should you use the tip? I leave that to everyone. It depends on what each person needs. If you prefer, Apple Watch unlock is another way: it opens the phone, but Apple Pay and banking apps still ask for Touch ID.

Face ID in the Duo 2? More like the Duo 10

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple is testing Face ID for the iPhone Duo 2, expected around fall 2027. I do not believe it, not even in the third generation. But Apple can sometimes make us happy, so we wait. My guess: Face ID will come in about the tenth generation. Physics stays. It is not going anywhere.

Also on Evolt News: iPhone Duo fails JerryRigEverything’s durability test · iPhone Duo screen cracks and AppleCare

Photo: Apple.

This article is opinion.

iPhone Duo Touch ID: FAQ

Does the iPhone Duo have Face ID?

No. The iPhone Duo uses Touch ID in the side button. Apple has not added Face ID, because the thin folding halves leave little room for the depth-sensing parts it needs.

What is the iPhone Duo Touch ID tip?

Register the lower segment of your index finger as an extra fingerprint in Settings, Touch ID & Passcode. That part of the finger rests on the side button when you pick up the phone, so the Duo can unlock as you lift it.

Is Touch ID less secure than Face ID?

By Apple’s numbers, the chance that a random person unlocks the phone is about 1 in 50,000 with Touch ID and 1 in 1,000,000 with Face ID. Each extra fingerprint slightly raises the chance of a false match.

Can you unlock the iPhone Duo with an Apple Watch?

Yes. With an Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2, SE 3 or later on your wrist and unlocked, you can turn on Unlock with Nearby Devices in Touch ID & Passcode. Apple Pay and banking apps still need Touch ID.

Will the iPhone Duo 2 have Face ID?

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple is testing Face ID for the iPhone Duo 2, expected around fall 2027. Apple has not decided whether it will ship.

Sources: MacRumors, MacRumors Forums, Reddit r/iPhoneDuo, Apple, Bloomberg, Notebookcheck.

Our Take

The “better than Face ID” Touch ID tip works for some iPhone Duo owners, and if you have a Duo, try it. But for me, it is self-comfort: Touch ID was never bad, it is just the cheaper solution on the most expensive iPhone, while the $1,199 iPhone 18 Pro has Face ID.

Face ID in a Duo? Physics says not soon. I would bet on the tenth generation, not the second.