Something I feel that's always missed in these discussions is context: Who is the adversary you're attempting to protect against?
Your kids screwing around with your phone? TouchID does the job.
Random people screwing around with your phone if they find it? Same thing.
Government gets ahold of it? Yeah.. notsomuch.
Considering that the primary adversaries of an average smartphone user are other mere mortals, not dedicated spy agencies, a fingerprint login strikes a very good balance between usability and security.
Consider the alternative - either requiring a standard alphanumeric password on unlock (just about zero usability), or a 4 digit pin code (less usable than the fingerprint while providing identical, maybe slightly less security than that option), or more likely than not, no password of any kind, the whole touch ID thing is a massive jump forward in the security posture of the average iOS user.
Most iOS users I know have it enabled simply because it means they don't have to keep re-keying their app store password.
Your kids screwing around with your phone? TouchID does the job.
Random people screwing around with your phone if they find it? Same thing.
Government gets ahold of it? Yeah.. notsomuch.
Considering that the primary adversaries of an average smartphone user are other mere mortals, not dedicated spy agencies, a fingerprint login strikes a very good balance between usability and security.
Consider the alternative - either requiring a standard alphanumeric password on unlock (just about zero usability), or a 4 digit pin code (less usable than the fingerprint while providing identical, maybe slightly less security than that option), or more likely than not, no password of any kind, the whole touch ID thing is a massive jump forward in the security posture of the average iOS user.
Most iOS users I know have it enabled simply because it means they don't have to keep re-keying their app store password.