How can I prevent my child from adding a touch ID or fingerprint to her login. I have used the admin account and disabled passcode changes, but she is still able to add a fingerprint as she knows her own account password (Not the admin one)
This is on a MacBook M4.
The built-in bioutil tool can likely do this, as can an MDM (supervisory) profile with allowFingerprintForUnlock.
But if there’s but one keyboard handy, far and away the easiest is to remove and reserve the Touch ID keyboard.
Touch ID being a means to enter the password less often, but it does not replace the password, nor does it provide any additional access. With Apple gear, biometrics operate as a convenience that makes more robust passwords easier to use, and harder to steal.
deepa172 wrote:
Thank you. I checked this link. It asks me to disable passcode and i did. But it does not prevent her from logging into her child account and adding the finger print right back.
The problem i am trying to solve (alebit the wrong way probably) is that she is using the fingerprint to unlock the computer during downtime and it gives her the 45-60 sec window to keep accessing her apps. She is doing it multiple times at a go and happily extended her downtime by 30+ mins before i found out.
If the usual: Manage downtime in Screen Time on Mac - Apple Support is not working, then confiscate the keyboard, and block Wi-Fi access during down-time. Or relocate the Mac into a location where it is visible.
Pragmatically though, you’re only going to succeed here if the child acquiesces. If the child is inclined to rebel, then you will lose this contest. Bypasses for anything you can do here are available on an allowance-scale budget, too.
I’d be inclined to encourage the creativity already shown here, though maybe not overtly. This is a clever kid. Tougher puzzles or more interesting activities, and access. There’s an old joke about a kid reading books in secret at night under the blankets, and never realizing that their parent deliberately kept fresh batteries in that flashlight. What that “flashlight” might be here, you will have to learn and identify and leverage.
The alternative being a lockdown, and keyboard or computer confiscations as mentioned, computers in locking desks or cabinets, and blocks, though that path alters the relationship that your child has with you, and particularly around their current and future willingness to confide in and to consult with you. And their willingness to trust you.
Kids are wired and driven to observe and absorb and communicate and socialize. Use that. Because blocking that drive will fail. And again, blocking will fail, and on an allowance-scale budget. Find your kid’s flashlight.
Because kids have agency. And they’re watching. And they’re learning things about us that we may not even realize ourselves.
You can report the 30-ish second downtime extension here: Product Feedback - Apple
See if it is available as part of Set up Screen Time for a child on Mac - Apple Support
If your child only has a standard user account, then just curious why you are worried about the TouchID fingerprint recognition? TouchID doesn't give them any extra permissions. As an admin, you can always change the password for any other macOS user accounts on that Mac without needing to know their password.
I've heard you can only store five fingerprints total, so if that is true, then you could just use up all those slots with your own fingerprints.
Thank you. I checked this link. It asks me to disable passcode and i did. But it does not prevent her from logging into her child account and adding the finger print right back.
The problem i am trying to solve (alebit the wrong way probably) is that she is using the fingerprint to unlock the computer during downtime and it gives her the 45-60 sec window to keep accessing her apps. She is doing it multiple times at a go and happily extended her downtime by 30+ mins before i found out.
Thank you for your reply. The problem i am trying to solve (alebit the wrong way probably) is that she is using the fingerprint to unlock the computer during downtime and it gives her the 45-60 sec window to keep accessing her apps. She is doing it multiple times at a go and happily extended her downtime by 30+ mins before i found out.
"not allowing child to add touch id: How can I prevent my child from adding a touch ID or fingerprint to her login. I have used the admin account and disabled passcode changes, but she is still able to add a fingerprint as she knows her own account password (Not the admin one) This is on a MacBook M4."
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Restrict this Using a Profile:
Create a Profile to Restrict App Access:
Similar to what is seen in my User Tip: How to Use a Profile to Disable the iSight Camera in macOS 14 Sonoma - Apple Community
I. Create the New Profile:
Screenshot of What to You Would See Before Saving:
II. Install the New Profile:
II. Verify the Profile Installation:
Try: creating a Figerprint
not allowing child to add touch id
