by charlietran
1 subcomments
- I did this recently, though on a much lower budget. You don’t need to buy a new $150 magic keyboard or a 3d printer.
1. Buy an old A2449 keyboard, ideally one with broken keys or battery but working touch ID. I got mine for $45 shipped. Recent listing example: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=magic+keyboard+a2449&_s...
2. Pry it apart as described in the article (really, there is so much glue) and then use some spare Legos to make an enclosure like this person: https://grepjason.sh/2022/standalone-touch-id-part-2
The standalone Touch ID key button is just under the size of 2x2x1 Lego. I integrated mine into a space diorama set for better vibes: https://imgur.com/a/Im7t9Xb
- It's me, I'm too lazy to modify a keyboard.
I came upon a spare Touch ID keyboard. I just got Command strips and adhered the whole keyboard to the underside of my desk. USB cable is clipped to the desk and goes to my dock. I've got the fingerprint reader right next to my standing desk controls so it's really convenient, and I still get to use my Keychron as my keyboard. The low profile of the Apple keyboard means it doesn't get in the way.
Also every time I need to unlock my Mac or sudo I get to feel like I'm tripping the silent alarm at the bank.
by aetherspawn
1 subcomments
- I buy and use the stupid keyboard just for this inconvenience.
Although to be honest not the worst keyboard I own, but not the best, I probably rate it like a 7/10.
It would be a 5/10 if the Bluetooth wasn’t so magically seamless.
The low profile means I can get by without a wrist pillow.
- To be fair, your Apple Watch becomes a secure authenticator for your Mac when paired, so Apple probably prefers that you just buy an Apple Watch.
by Grisu_FTP
5 subcomments
- This is a bit offtopic (but im genuinely curious since i dont use iPhones) but is there any advantage to using faceid over touchid in iphones?
This Notch/Dynamic Island looks terrible IMO. Also you can "Authorize" stuff without even having physical access to your device, someone could in theory pick up your phone, make it face towards you, say "LOOK!" and your phone is unlocked.
Also i found it far more unreliable to instantly unlock.
A fingerprint reader inside the powerbutton is the way to go IMO, you instantly unlock when u press the power button, you have to actually touch the device to verify and you have no notch.
IIRC just looking at the confirmation if i wanted to buy something in the app store via face id was enough to confirm it.
by ChrisMarshallNY
0 subcomment
- I actually have a small Magic Keyboard under my desk (in the keyboard tray). It’s positioned, so that I can reach under, without looking, and touch the Touch ID.
I don’t like the rest of the keyboard. I have a big Keychron on top of the desk, that I use for typing.
- I’ve been griping over this for years now. I get pretty bad RSI so like using a split mechanical keyboard for coding, but I also use long/complex passwords so I like using Touch ID too. It dumbfounds me that you can’t get a Touch ID pad or even a numpad with Touch ID to sit next to aftermarket keyboards.
- Doesn't Apple have a Face ID trick with a paired iPhone to replace Touch ID on macOS?
That is probably why. They prefer you to buy an iPhone than to sell you another gadget.
By the way, I like the idea but for some reason it unpairs randomly and I have to go into settings and re-enable it every couple of months. Really annoying.
- I’m on this bandwagon. Have my own keyboard (literally just finished soldering and 3D printing one) and still have to have the Apple keyboard cluttering my desk for biometrics). Have been thinking about this for a while, but it feels incredibly wasteful to spoil a useful piece of equipment just for the sake of getting at that sensor.
- I just want Touch ID to return on iPhones. Oh how I hate, hate, hate Face ID and its inability to read my face without my glasses when I get up in the morning. How is it that Moto figured out how to put the touch sensor on the back of the phone years ago, but Apple refuses?
- So this setup is for people who use a Mac, but not a Mac laptop (or who keep the laptop closed and use it exclusively with an external monitor), and who also don't want to buy Apple's keyboard with Touch ID, or an Apple Watch. I gotta say, I don't think that's a huge group of people.
by Simulacra
1 subcomments
- I really miss touch ID on my phone, all of the swiping is a little cumbersome and sore after a while. Stretching my hand to swipe up down and so forth. I deeply miss the home button.
by gorfian_robot
1 subcomments
- apples and oranges (pun!) but my new win11 laptop has the 'faceID' feature and it works well. no idea why apple is so slow on this.
by andsoitis
3 subcomments
- How big do you think the market for that would be?
by QuercusMax
0 subcomment
- It's very annoying when I'm using my personal mac mini and have to type my password a billion times, compared to my work macbook which lets me touch id.
But is it annoying enough I'd actually buy one of these hypothetical $50 boxes? IDK.... I've got my two machines on a KVM so I can use my Kinesis keyboard with both of them.
by Waterluvian
1 subcomments
- Why would you unbundle your bundle and sell the TV channels one by one?
- or just use a yubikey... it costs ~$50
- On the same note they should make a Face ID camera like Windows Hello.
by sleepybrett
1 subcomments
- I used to have terrible rsi and switched to a kinesis advantage, if I could get a little touchid pad that i could attach with doublesided tape to it, it would be awesome. As it stands I just type my password a lot.
- I mean, why would they?
There is no scalable market. They want to control the hardware for quality and margins. They already sell a keyboard with Touch ID included. Mac accessories are far from their focus area.
They don’t because it doesn’t make sense to.
Edit: If you’re downvoting, feel free to say why!
- Doesn't this tie back strongly to the secure region logic?
Sensing is one thing. Trusting the sensor input and what it unlocks is another.
- It's so much more fun to use a Mac without TouchID. The whole Safari password autofill experience is much faster and less annoying when you don't have TouchID (does not ask for any approval while you're logged in/Keychain is unlocked.) If there's a `defaults write` command I can run to emulate my Mac mini experience on a MacBook please let me know.
P.S. Liquid Glass + TouchID approval needed for every Keychain entry == Windows Vista
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