Why you should install ‘winter fingerprints’ on your phone

For many, the winter means using phone fingerprint recognition technology becomes almost impossible. Here's what you can do about it

In the smartphone era, the journey from futuristic fantasy to everyday nuisance is short. When the Motorola Atrix 4G made phones with fingerprint scanners widely available in 2011, then when the iPhone 5S made them very widely available two years later, it was the sort of thing you would hungrily unpack the box to play with. Now, if a scanner gets your attention at all, it's because the blasted thing won't work.

Right now especially. For many people, it is a winter ritual to place a thumb on the sensor, then place it again, then again, then try a finger instead and ... oh, forget it, just pretend it's still 2011 and enter the code! As Apple explains, and as we all know: "Moisture, lotions, sweat, oils, cuts or dry skin might affect fingerprint recognition." So might "certain activities ... including exercising, showering, swimming, cooking". Which is just a typically wholesome day, of course, in the life of an iPhone user.