You Can Use Apple Watch to Unlock Your Mac Automatically
You may be aware of Apple’s feature that allows you to automatically unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch (at least when you’re wearing a face mask). But you may not have known that this feature has been around on the Mac for years. As long as you’re wearing your Apple Watch – and it’s unlocked – you can sign in to your Mac account without even pressing buttons. Just lift the lid of your MacBook (or otherwise wake up your Mac) and your user account is automatically unlocked.
Which Macs and Apple Watch can use this feature?
Of course, the “Unlock with Apple Watch” feature does not work on all Macs – and even those that are supported will only work if certain system requirements are met.
System requirements
You need:
- Turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your Mac
- Use two-factor authentication for your Apple ID
- Give your Apple Watch a password
You also need to be using a Mac that was released after mid-2013 and is running macOS Sierra or later. (You can check the compatibility of your Mac by choosing Apple > About Your Mac . Go to System Report> Network> Wi-Fi and look for the Auto Unlock: Supported entry to confirm.)
How to enable Apple Watch unlock feature on Mac
This feature can be enabled for individual Mac user accounts. Click the Apple icon in the top menu bar and choose System Preferences . Here go to the ” Security and Privacy ” section. On the General tab, select the Use Apple Watch to unlock apps and Mac check box.
The Mac will ask you for your system password. Enter it and click the ” Unblock ” button – and immediately after that the function will be enabled.
The next time you lock and unlock your Mac, you will see the text “Unlock with Apple Watch” instead of the usual password field.
After enabling this feature, you can also approve requests and sign in to apps using your Apple Watch. When prompted to sign in, you’ll see a prompt on your Apple Watch. Just double-click the side button to confirm the request without entering a password.