An embodiment of the invention discloses a fingerprint unlocking method. The method comprises the steps of acquiring pixel points in multiple directions by utilizing a fingerprint identification module in parallel when a user presses the fingerprint identification module; performing characteristic point extraction on the pixel point acquired in any direction when the pixel point acquired in any of the directions meets a preset characteristic point extraction condition; matching characteristic points with a preset fingerprint template when the total number of the extracted characteristic points is greater than a preset threshold; and unlocking a terminal when the characteristic points are successfully matched with the preset fingerprint template. An embodiment of the invention furthermore provides the terminal. Through the embodiments of the method and the terminal, the pixel points can be acquired in the directions and subjected to the characteristic extraction, so that the fingerprint acquisition time is shortened and the fingerprint unlocking efficiency can be improved.