OnePlus 6T Screen Unlock Too Slow? Will Get Better Over Time, Company Says

Screen Unlock, the in-display fingerprint scanner on the OnePlus 6T, has been criticized by many for being a lot slower than traditional sensors. However, OnePlus claims that its Screen Unlock technology will get better over time.

A lot of reviews for the OnePlus 6T have been mostly positive, with people praising its new all-screen design and impressive performance. However, the one thing that all critics and reviewers dislike is the Screen Unlock feature on the phone because it is said to be slower than the traditional fingerprint scanners on previous OnePlus phones.

“Sometimes, it would be a straightforward unlocking experience, albeit a noticeably slower one than the previous discrete fingerprint scanner OnePlus had,” The Verge said in its review. “More often, though, I’d have to reposition my finger multiple times before the phone identified me. And yes, I made sure to re-enroll my thumb scans more than once in case the original ID information wasn’t good enough.”

“Needless to say it's pretty new tech, and OnePlus has made it clear that it's not going to be as good as the dedicated scanners we've seen in previous phones,” Gizmodo pointed out. “It's slower for one, and it definitely feels like it's a bit rustier than the scanners I'm used to using on other phones. For starters, it needs you to be a lot more precise with how you position your digit.”

Over the weekend, OnePlus published a blog post discussing the Screen Unlock technology on the OnePlus 6T. The company claimed that the in-display fingerprint scanner will actually get better over time and it should also be able to unlock faster when used more often.

“Every time a user successfully unlocks the phone with their fingerprint, the sensor also records areas of the finger that weren't registered in the initial fingerprint setup stage. This fingerprint data is then added to the data the phone already holds, making it more complete. So, every time the in-display fingerprint sensor is used, it gathers more data about the user’s fingerprint. This means that over time, the phone will unlock even faster,” OnePlus software engineer Yale Liu said.

Liu also explained that the algorithms, which are responsible for recognizing the user’s fingerprint, are also capable of detecting if the user’s fingerprint is different than usual. For example, Screen Unlock should be able to know if the user’s fingerprint is wet or if it has a cut on it. When this happens, the algorithms will be able to add this fingerprint data to existing data to further improve the unlock speeds of the in-display fingerprint scanner.

This may be the reason why some users are saying that the scanner is performing faster after the release of the OxygenOS 9.0.7 update, as pointed out by Android Police. For those who are having trouble with their OnePlus 6T units, they should make sure that they are running the latest version of OxygenOS and see if there is a noticeable difference in speed.

OnePlus also suggested that users should only use screen protectors that are sold bye OnePlus or by one of its official partners. Some screen protectors might be too thick and they may be hindering the performance of Screen Unlock. The company also recommended using Face Unlock alongside the in-display fingerprint scanner for a faster unlocking experience.