A method for fingerprint unlocking and a terminal are provided. The method includes the follows. Fingerprint information is acquired. A target group number of a group of fingerprint that is most similar to the fingerprint information is determined from among preset fingerprint matching data; where the preset fingerprint matching data corresponds to N groups of fingerprint, each group of fingerprint corresponds to multiple fingerprint templates and has one unique identification group number, and N is an integer greater than 1. The fingerprint information is compared with fingerprint templates corresponding to the target group number. A terminal is unlocked when a target matching value between a fingerprint template of the fingerprints corresponding to the target group number and the fingerprint information is determined, where the target matching value is greater than a first preset threshold.