How to Unlock Your Mac with Your Apple Watch

If Apple hadn’t introduced the capability to unlock iPhones with the Apple Watch, it would have been impossible for people to use their phones while wearing masks during the pandemic. You are not limited to using this helpful function with only your smartphone, though; you may do it with other devices as well. Additionally, you may use your Apple Watch to safely accept permission requests from apps and unlock your computer. This article will therefore detail the procedures that must be followed in order to unlock a Mac via an Apple Watch.

Read Also: How to Clear Cache in Chrome on Your Mac

How to Unlock Your Mac with Your Apple Watch

Activating Auto Unlock is a straightforward and speedy process once it has been established that you are in possession of two devices that are suitable for use with one another.

1. System Preferences can be reached by clicking the Apple logo, which is situated in the top-left corner of your screen, and selecting that option from the drop-down menu that appears. After signing into your Mac, select the option from the menu that is labelled “System Preferences.” It is also possible to attach it to your pier using a pin (its icon looks like a grey gear).

2. To access the General tab, go to the Settings menu, then pick Security & Privacy from the drop-down menu that appears at the top of the screen.

3. Check the box that is labelled “Activate iPhone” while you are wearing your Apple Watch and having your iPhone unlocked. With your Apple Watch, you can unlock apps as well as your Mac. When prompted to do so, enter the password that you use to access your Mac.

You should now be able to unlock your Mac without inputting its password by simply putting on your Apple Watch when it wakes up. If all goes according to plan, you should be able to do this.

What’s Required to Enable Auto-Unlock on Your Device

You’ll need to check that both your Apple Watch and your Mac are running the most recent versions available before you can use the Auto Unlock feature. Check to see that your devices satisfy the following requirements:

• You are using watchOS 3 or a later version with your Apple Watch.
• macOS Sierra or a later version is installed on your Mac; if you have an Apple Watch Series 3 or later, macOS High Sierra or a later version is installed.
• They are both using the same iCloud account to sign in.
• They have each put up their own passwords.

Additionally, you will be required to turn on two-factor authentication for your iCloud account.

FAQs

Why does unlocking my iPhone not work on my Apple Watch and vice versa?

Check the “Unlock with iPhone” option in the Watch app or the settings on your watch to see if it is turned on, and make sure that your iPhone and watch are within 10 metres of each other. In addition, to look over the wrist detection settings, head to the Settings menu, then select Passcode, and then select Wrist Detection. If you disable this particular lock setting on the Apple Watch, the watch will not be able to unlock itself automatically on its own.

Why does my Apple Watch unlock even when it’s not on my wrist?

If you haven’t been prompted to unlock your Apple Watch, you most likely have it set to unlock automatically whenever it detects that it’s near an iPhone. Navigate to the Watch app on your iPhone, click Passcode, and check the option that’s located next to Unlock with iPhone. You may also access the settings for this function on your Apple Watch by going to Settings and then selecting Passcode.