#transcript #youtube #touch-id #magic-keyboard #level-2-jeff > Auto-generated YouTube captions, lightly paragraphed into ~30 s chunks by `ytkx`. Product names and jargon are mangled in places — read it as a search index, not as a quotation source. Distilled build notes live in [[Standalone Touch ID Module for Mac]]. Source: Level 2 Jeff — Why doesn't Apple make this? (2025-12-03, 6:53) --- # Why doesn't Apple make this? Channel: Level 2 Jeff · uploaded 2025-12-03 · 6:53 · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzB6m2VTxAg ## Description Apple could make a ton of money building little external touch ID sensors, or licensing the tech to keyboard manufacturers. Why don't they? - Snazzy Labs' video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz9Ek6fxX48 - Model I used: https://www.printables.com/model/355924-clickable-touch-id-box-tkl-board-wired#instructions - The M1.2 Screw set I used: https://amzn.to/48xqYYe - The M1.2 Nut set I used: https://amzn.to/4ozzb43 - Hakko curved-tip tweezers: https://amzn.to/443cldQ - iFixit Mako Screwdriver kit: https://amzn.to/4iBGRkL Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/geerlingguy Sponsor me on GitHub: https://github.com/sponsors/geerlingguy Merch: https://www.redshirtjeff.com 2nd Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GeerlingEngineering 3rd Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Level2Jeff Contents: 00:00 - Touch ID 00:44 - Torn down 04:00 - Transformed 06:11 - Tested ## Chapters - [0:00](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=0) Touch ID - [0:44](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=44) Torn down - [4:00](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=240) Transformed - [6:11](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=371) Tested ## Transcript **[0:00](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=0)** I finally upgraded to a mechanical keyboard, but because Apple's so protective of their Touch ID hardware, there aren't any mechanical keyboards with that feature built in. But there is a way to hack it. It's incredibly wasteful and takes a bit more patience than I think most people have, but you basically take an Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, rip out the Touch ID, and install it in a fancy little 3D printed box along with the keyboard's logic board. I'm far from the first person to do this, and the first time I saw it done was actually the Snazzy Labs video, but I thought I'd share my own **[0:32](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=32)** experience. If you don't know what Touch ID is, it's basically Apple's version of a fingerprint sensor, but it's integrated really well into Mac OS for like login, unlocking my password manager, and Apple Pay. So, let's get started. First, I tried sticking a couple spudgers in the back cover because I know it needs to come off, but that wasn't getting very far. But I quickly figured out I needed some heat to loosen the adhesive. And I didn't have an eye opener. So I decided to just lean the keyboard against my space heater. I figured if I saw any smoke from the battery or smelled burning plastic, I left it on too long. But luckily that didn't happen. And it was a **[1:04](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=64)** little easier now to pry off the back. I spent probably 5 or 10 minutes just getting the back ready to peel off. And there's no way it' go back together like new again after this. I don't know why Apple thinks they need so much adhesive. It's not even like hermetically sealed. There was definitely some debris that got cut in around the edges on this thing. Maybe they could redesign it with some screws so it could be repaired or at least get a battery replacement, but who am I kidding? This is Apple we're talking about. I mean, at least there's not adhesive on top of the battery. They just have it underneath. But yeah, most sides of the thing are completely **[1:36](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=96)** covered in adhesive, and it's kind of disgusting once you take it off. Anyway, all that's done finally. So, I popped the little battery connector off, and then I got to work on like 20 tiny screws on the black plastic cover plate. After that was done, I carefully popped it off, but it was still annoying because there was still some residual adhesive that was kind of wedging it in around the corners. So, I guess be careful with that if you want to put it back together, but it wasn't honestly too bad at that point. Getting the main logic board out was a little more rough because it has three connectors on it. They're all pretty tiny, so I used a small spudger to pop off the ZE connector for the Touch ID button and **[2:09](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=129)** then a spudger and tiny tweezers to carefully pull out the other two cables. And of course, the screws on the logic board are a different screw head than the ones on the black back clever plate because this is Apple we're talking about. But I got the board kind of loose and got to work on the wider connector that's across the top, the one that actually attaches to the keyboard matrix. This one's kind of annoying because not only do you have to flip up the little connector flap, you have to remove some very thin adhesive tape holding the connector to the wire. I used my tiny tweezers for that again and then carefully separated the logic board. I think the tweezers are probably **[2:42](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=162)** the most important tool for this whole project outside of a small screwdriver set. You should honestly have some on hand anyway if you're doing any electronics repair. Anyway, the next thing I removed was the lightning port, which wasn't too bad, though it of course is also stuck down on its cable with some more adhesive. The cable going over to the Touch ID button is also held on with adhesive, but it wasn't too bad getting that one off. There's also another thin sticker over the Touch ID wire connector, and this one's a bit fragile since it's so thin and on such a long cable. So, take this really slow and be careful not to rip the cable while you're removing it. These things **[3:14](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=194)** are really, really fragile. There's also a power button mechanism you kind of have to pop out. And since the keyboard was going to the parts bin for me, I just ripped it out and probably broke it a little bit, too. Before I got back to the flexible PCB, which was stuck on really well, I removed the back plate that little metal piece that holds on the Touch ID button. But to get the button out of there, you have to finish pulling off the flex PCB. And that was really kind of nerve-wracking. I I just after a while went for it. And luckily the cable didn't rip. But I was like 50/50 on whether it would because I have ripped these things in the past. And if **[3:46](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=226)** it does rip, it's kind of game over for the whole operation because I think that the Touch ID is like hardware paired with the logic board on here. A little heat next time I do this might help there. But you know, you live and you learn. But now that I got the sensor out, it was time to put it into my 3D printed case. I'll put a link to the case below. The one I printed is based on Snazzy Labs' case, and it's just big enough to fit the logic board and the Touch ID, but you can actually get a version that fits the battery pack, too. But, you know, good luck getting that battery off without kind of bending it and making it blow up. But the hardest part of the whole 3D print is probably **[4:19](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=259)** this little back plate that covers up the Touch ID. There's a little bump on it that touches the tiny button that's on the back side of the Touch ID, and it has to be the perfect height, otherwise you won't be able to click the button. Sometimes that's fine, like you you only have to click it for some use cases, like if you want to boot your computer from it or when you're logging out by clicking the button. But I still wanted it to work. So I actually reprinted this with 0.1 mm layer height on a higher quality print setting just to get the thing right. Otherwise, you have to be prepared to like sand it down a little bit and keep test fitting it until it's **[4:51](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=291)** just perfect. But I didn't have the patience for that. So I just reprinted it. But once I got that installed, the rest of it was kind of like a little bit of origami, plastic origami. You put the Touch ID back plate over the 3D printed cover, then a printed cover on top of that, and then you use these M1.2 screws. Now, these things are tiny, which is fine. You just have to be prepared to kind of pick up one off the ground when you inevitably drop it. And you know, in my studio, sometimes I have to get out the magnet to pick them up because they kind of disappear in the carpet. But, uh, once the cover is on, after that, I tested the clicking again **[5:24](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=324)** just to make sure that it was still good. And then I sandwiched in the logic board on top. And for that, you have to first connect the ribbon cables the right way around before you screw down the board. If you don't do that, I don't know how you'd plug in the connectors. It would be extremely difficult. But the next part was probably the most the most annoying part of this process. It was trying to line up these like dust spec sized nuts with tiny M1.2 screws to install the lightning port. I felt like I could have used like two or three more arms, but in the end, carefully balancing the nut on top of the screw through the port and then holding my **[5:57](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=357)** finger on top of it while I kind of got the screw started and then screwing all the way. That was kind of how I did it. I I had to do it two or three times. And, you know, it got kind of uh frustrating here. So much so that I didn't even frame the shot. But, you know, all is well that ends well, right? But with that, here's the whole thing put together. And it looks pretty good. The last thing to install is a back plate that slides in place. And I also put these rubber bumpers on it so that when it's on my desk, it'll kind of stay still. So, there we have it. It's a Touch ID button in a box. I mean, it'd be ridiculous to have to pay 50 bucks **[6:29](https://youtu.be/tzB6m2VTxAg?t=389)** for this kind of thing, but honestly, after doing all this, I'd probably do that. It' save me having to waste a whole Magic Keyboard just so I can have Touch ID with my nicer non-Apple keyboard. But anyway, it is what it is. And here it is in action. And yeah, that's about it. How to destroy a $100 Apple keyboard to get Touch ID because Apple doesn't sell it separately.