Fingerprint ID FAQ

How Does Fingerprint ID Work?

You can enroll in Fingerprint ID to easily unlock your Fire Max 11 tablet and verify yourself in apps using the fingerprint sensor on your device. When you enroll in Fingerprint ID, advanced capacitive sensors take a high-resolution image from small sections of your fingerprint. This information is used to create a numerical representation of certain features of your fingerprint, referred to as a "fingerprint template." Only your fingerprint template is stored on your device -not images of your finger itself. When you use Fingerprint ID to unlock your Fire tablet, a new template is generated and compared to your enrolled fingerprint template to identify a match. The stored template is updated over time to improve Fingerprint ID's ability to recognize you. Your fingerprint template is stored only on your device and not sent to Amazon's cloud.

You can delete your fingerprint template from your device at any time:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select Security and Privacy, and then select Fingerprint Unlock.
Your fingerprint template will also be automatically deleted if you do not turn on your Fire Max 11 for 18 months.

If you choose to use Fingerprint ID to verify yourself in apps on your device, your fingerprint template is not shared with those apps. The apps are notified only as to whether a verification was successful.

Keep In Mind: Fingerprints are an easy and quick way to unlock your Fire tablet, but a fingerprint may be less secure than a strong PIN or password.

Fingerprint ID and Deregistering Your Fire Tablet

When you deregister your Fire tablet from your Amazon account, certain locally stored content and personal content, including your password, will not be removed from your device. If you have enrolled in Fingerprint ID, your fingerprint template will also not be removed and you can still unlock your Fire tablet by touching the fingerprint sensor. You can delete your fingerprint template at any time through Settings.