Are we talking about holding the phone, or about taking it out of my pocket? Because, for the latter, my fingers are on the sides, including on the power button.
The side buttons on my phone are more of an annoyance I think. I'm constantly pressing them inadvertently, and rarely use them intentionally. The most common thing in my Photos folder are accidental screenshots (yes I do go back and delete them periodically).
People hold it differently then, I suppose. The fingerprint reader on the back of my Pixel 4a never worked reliably for unlocking, and was too sensitive for scrolling. It scrolled so often when I did not want it to, and I could find no setting to turn it off, so I eventually put a piece of aluminium tape over it to block it.
I'd say you're in the minority then and most people would have their fingers on the front and back while pulling it out due to pocket physics (they don't get wider, but they get deeper).
Your index finger is on the side? I have pretty big hands and long fingers, that's not how I hold my phone. I'm a bit weird and do pinky on button, three fingers in back, then thumb has ample room to navigate around the bottom half
Are you guys pulling my leg? The original post said "I wish they still made phones with scanners at the back, I hate FaceID", and my reply was "if you don't mind side scanners, which allow you to do the thing you miss (unlocking the phone while taking it out of your pocket), they still make those".
> and my reply was "if you don't mind side scanners, which allow you to do the thing you miss (unlocking the phone while taking it out of your pocket), they still make those".
This isn't quite what you said, you asked a question
> why does it have to specifically be the back?
and then got an answer to the question
> Where does your index finger sit?
This answer was presumably meant to imply that your index finger naturally sits at the perfect spot for unlocking the phone if the sensor is on the back. At least for me (and I always assumed everyone else, but you are showing to be an exception), my index finger is on the back of the phone both when taking it out of the pocket and when holding it, so it's the perfect spot for a sensor.
Your assumption of using the thumb to unlock the phone is apparently so strong that maybe you didn't realize others in this thread are assuming index finger is the most natural to unlock, and I guess that is where the confusion comes from. Since I have a sensor on the back of my phone and unlock it with my index finger while taking it out of my pocket, this statement is very odd to me:
> The original topic was about unlocking your phone while taking it out of your pocket, which is done with the thumb.
First, it's not true for me, since I use my index finger, and second, I'm not even sure how I would have to contort my hand to have the fingers and thumbs on the side of the phone while taking it out of my pocket such that the thumb could unlock via a side sensor. Even putting my hand in at a 90 degree angle is tough because pockets are usually too tight for that. But I suppose if you have always unlocked your phone with your thumb while taking it out of your pocket, I can see why you might think they're pulling your leg.
