Samsung's fingerprint scanner woes are far from over. A few weeks ago, the Galaxy S10 series was plagued by a bug that let anyone unlock the device using their fingerprints. Samsung then addressed the issue via a software update. Now, it is the Galaxy A50's turn to experience its share of fingerprint sensor troubles.
Some users were unable to register fingerprints on their Samsung Galaxy A50 units after installing a software update which purportedly improved fingerprint scanner performance. To make matters worse, the changelog also advised users to re-register their fingerprints to take advantage of the 'enhanced security' that the software had to offer.
The feature is broken in devices that received updates bearing firmware versions A505FNXXS3ASK9 and A505FDDS3ASK8. According to user reports, the registration process reaches 41 percent without any issues. The process gets a lot slower after that point and takes several attempts to complete. Otherwise, it ends abruptly and flashes an error message that reads, "Make sure the fingerprint sensor is clean and dry, then try again."
Users who were able to register their fingerprints successfully were unable to use the feature. The device flat out refuses to recognize the newly added fingerprint even after a successful registration. This is certainly a software problem, considering that other variants of the Galaxy A50 that do not have the above software seem to work fine. Additionally, the device has no trouble recognizing fingerprints that were registered before the software update, so it's best if you hold on to those.
There seems to be no solution in sight, at least for the moment. Affected users will have to use an alternative unlock method such as PIN, pattern, password or Face Unlock until the issue is resolved. We can expect a fix to make its way in the form of an OTA update in the coming days.