The fingerprint sensor on Samsung S7 is passive, i.e., you have to press it to make it work. On the other hand, fingerprint sensors on most devices today are active, they are continuously scanning for a fingerprint, and unlock as soon as you lay your finger on them.

I recently switched to Samsung S7 (passive fingerprint sensor) from One Plus 3 (active fingerprint sensor), and found it really annoying to press the button every time to go to the home screen or to use my fingerprint sensor.

But after some Google search, I found some Android apps that claim to turn the fingerprint sensor on Samsung Galaxy S7 to active. After trying, most of them failed to do their job, and the ones those work, only become functional when the screen is on. So with the latter set of apps, you can use the app to go back to the launcher without pressing the sensor button, authorize payments, and initiate all other actions that would otherwise need a button press.

The setup is fairly simple, just install Fingertouch app from the Google Play Store, and start the Fingertouch service.

Troubleshooting

Below are certain issues which you can run into while using the Fingertouch app.

1. Apps not able to read fingerprint: If certain apps fail to read the fingerprint, you can temporarily disable the service. Then enable it again once you are done with the app. In my case, I haven’t faced any issues at all.
2. Remove the notification: If you hate the persistent notification from the app, then you can disable it by holding the notification, and then disabling the app from sending notifications. You can also disable it from the Settings menu. The app will still work fine after you disable the notification, but make sure you exclude it from the battery saving feature. This is required to make sure that Android OS doesn’t kill the Fingertouch Service.

Verdict

This is not a perfect solution. It can not convert a fingerprint sensor to active, but it can surely save some button presses, and save you a couple of seconds every day. Also, it does not consume a lot of battery, as it is not working when the screen is off.