The SalesThumb mobile app has a toggle that puts a lock screen in front of the app itself: turn it on, and every time you reopen the app you have to clear a Face ID, Touch ID, or fingerprint check before you see anything else. It lives in Profile → Security, and it's entirely local to the phone where it's turned on — useful for anyone who wants an extra layer between "phone unlocked" and "shop data on screen," which matters most on a shared tablet at the front desk or a personal phone that also has customer and job details on it.
This is a native-app-only feature. It doesn't exist on the SalesThumb web dashboard, and it has nothing to do with your account password or your account's sign-in method — more on that below, because the naming makes it easy to mix up with something else in SalesThumb that sounds almost identical.
Turning it on
Open Profile, scroll down, and look for a Security section with a single row: Require Face ID / fingerprint — "Unlock with biometrics every time you open the app." That row only appears if your phone actually has usable biometrics set up (the hardware plus at least one enrolled face or fingerprint). If your phone has no Face ID, Touch ID, or fingerprint sensor enrolled, the Security section doesn't show up at all — there's no toggle to find, because it couldn't do anything yet.
Switching it on doesn't take effect immediately. It first triggers a Face ID / fingerprint prompt right there on the Profile screen, asking you to confirm it actually works for you on this device. If that check succeeds, the toggle turns on. If it doesn't match, you'll see an alert — "Couldn't confirm" / "That didn't match, so this stayed off. You can try again anytime." — and the setting stays off until you try again successfully.
What happens when you reopen the app
Once it's on, the app shows an Unlock screen — "Use Face ID, Touch ID, or your fingerprint to continue" — before it lets you into anything else. The biometric prompt fires automatically the moment that screen appears, so in the normal case (Face ID succeeds) you don't have to tap anything extra.
This lock isn't only a cold-launch thing — it re-arms every time the app has been backgrounded, not just after a full app relaunch. Switch to another app for a bit and come back, and you'll hit this screen again. Brief interruptions that don't actually leave the app — a quick glance at Control Center, the app switcher view, an incoming call banner — don't count as backgrounding, so they won't force a fresh Face ID prompt on their own.
If the prompt fails, you land on the same screen with a Try Again button and, underneath it, a Sign out instead link as an escape hatch. What you see depends on why it failed:
- Too many wrong attempts: "Too many failed attempts. Try again in a moment, or sign out."
- Anything else unrecognized: a generic "Couldn't verify it's you. Try again."
- Simply cancelling the prompt shows no error at all — it just waits for you to tap Try Again.
Turning it off
Switching the toggle off in Profile → Security is immediate — there's no re-authentication step to turn it off, only to turn it on.
Not the same as the web app's account passkeys
This is the important distinction: SalesThumb also has a passkey feature on the web dashboard (Settings → Security & 2FA), and the near-identical "Face ID" language between the two is a genuine source of confusion, so it's worth stating plainly.
- Mobile app-lock (this article) is a device-local screen lock. It sits in front of a mobile session you're already signed into on one specific phone. It isn't a sign-in method, doesn't touch your account credentials or your 2FA status, isn't visible to your shop admin, and turning it on or off on one phone has zero effect on any other device.
- Web passkeys (see "Setting up and signing in with a passkey") are an account-level sign-in credential. Registering one replaces your password on the web login screen and satisfies your account's two-factor requirement on its own.
Turning on this mobile toggle does not register a passkey on your account, and having a web passkey does not enable or affect this mobile toggle. They're unrelated settings that happen to both use "Face ID" in their name.
Things to know
- The Security toggle only appears if your phone already has Face ID, Touch ID, or a fingerprint enrolled in its own device settings — this feature doesn't set biometrics up for you, it only uses what's already there.
- If Face ID or your fingerprint doesn't read cleanly, the phone's own passcode fallback is left available rather than disabled, so a bad scan (wet finger, a face covering, a hardware hiccup) doesn't strand you with no way in besides signing out.
- The setting is stored on the device, not your account — it doesn't sync between your phone and your tablet, and a shop admin can't turn it on or check its status for you from the web dashboard.
- If your phone later loses biometric capability after you've turned this on — you remove all enrolled fingerprints/faces, or the sensor stops working — the app doesn't lock you out. It lets you straight through instead, since this is a convenience layer and not something your account access depends on.
- Signing out from the lock screen still works even if you can never pass the biometric check again — it revokes the session the same as signing out normally would.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same thing as the passkey feature on the web app?
A: No. This mobile toggle is a local screen lock on one phone — it doesn't sign you in or affect your account. The web app's passkey feature (Settings → Security & 2FA) is a real account credential that replaces your password and satisfies two-factor authentication when you sign in on the web dashboard. Turning one on has no effect on the other.
I turned it on but never see the lock screen when I reopen the app — why?
A: It only re-locks after the app has actually been backgrounded, not on every single screen you visit, and brief interruptions like Control Center or the app switcher don't count as backgrounding either. Also check that the Security section is still showing in Profile — if your phone's Face ID or fingerprint enrollment changed, the app may no longer see usable biometrics.
What happens if I stop being able to use Face ID or my fingerprint after turning this on?
A: You won't get locked out of the app. If the device reports it can no longer verify you biometrically, the unlock screen lets you straight through rather than trapping you outside your own account — this toggle is a convenience layer, not a hard requirement to get in.
Do I need to turn this on separately on each device?
A: Yes. It's a per-device preference stored on that phone only. Turning it on for your phone doesn't enable it on a shop tablet or anyone else's device, and vice versa.
Can my shop owner or admin see whether I have this turned on?
A: No. It isn't stored on your account or visible from the web dashboard — it's a setting local to the phone.
I entered the wrong biometric a few times and now it says too many attempts — is my account locked?
A: No, only the biometric prompt is temporarily throttled by the device. Wait a moment and tap Try Again, or use Sign out instead if you need in right away — your account itself isn't affected.