How To Unlock Your Mac With An Apple Watch
If you have an Apple Watch, you can use it to unlock your Mac quickly and easily. Apple has added a feature to the watch that lets you unlock your Mac without entering a password. You just need to bring your watch to your Mac and the Mac will let you in.
You need to first set up this feature on your Mac before you can use it. In addition, there are certain requirements that your devices must meet before you can unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch
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Requirements to unlock your Mac with Apple Watch
Your devices must meet both software and hardware requirements before they can be used for the unlocking process.
Supported Mac and Apple Watch
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You must have one of the following Macs and an Apple Watch to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch
- Mac mid 2013 or newer.
- Apple Watch 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.
There is an easy way to find out if your Mac supports automatic unlocking:
- Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen and select About This Mac
- On the Overview tab, click the System Report button.
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- Expand the Network menu in the left sidebar and select the Wi-Fi option.
- On the right sidebar, look at what’s next to “Auto Unlock” says. If it says Supported, it means you can unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch
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Supported operating system versions
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Both your Apple Watch and Mac must be using the following operating system to use the unlock feature.
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- If you have an Apple Watch 0, 1, 2, or 3, you must be using watchOS 3 or newer. If it’s an Apple Watch 4 or 5, watchOS 4 or later must be installed.
- You must have macOS Sierra or later installed on your Mac
Two-Factor Authentication For Your iCloud Account
Apple requires you to turn on two-factor authentication on your iCloud account before you can use your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac You can do this on your Mac as shown below.
- Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner and choose System Preferences.
- Select iCloud on the next screen.
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- Click Account Information to view your iCloud account settings.
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- Select the Security tab.
- Enable the two-factor authentication option.
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Use the same iCloud account
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You need to make sure both your Mac and Apple Watch are using the same iCloud account. Otherwise, sign in with the same Apple ID on both devices.
Use a password on both Mac and Apple Watch
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You must enable the password option on your Apple Watch On a Mac, you must use a password to log into your account.
Turn on Bluetooth and WiFi on your Mac
To unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch, your Mac must have both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on.
- To turn on Wi-Fi, click the Wi-Fi icon in the Mac menu bar and choose Turn On Wi-Fi. Incl.
- To turn on Bluetooth, click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar and select Turn On Bluetooth.
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Unlock Apple Watch
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To unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch, your watch must be unlocked while you’re wearing it on your wrist.
How to Unlock Your Mac Using Apple Watch
You need to turn on the auto unlock feature on your Mac before you can unlock it with your Apple Watch
- Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen and select System Preferences.
- Select the Security & Privacy option on the next screen.
- You will see an option labeled “Use Apple Watch” to unlock apps and Mac Enable this option.
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- You can now move your Apple Watch closer to your Mac to unlock your Mac
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What to do if your Mac won’t unlock with Apple Watch
If you’re having problems unlocking your Mac with your Apple Watch, the following fixes can help you.
Turn off the unlock option and restart your Mac
- Click the Apple logo icon in the upper left corner and select System Preferences.
- Select the Security & Privacy option.
- Disable the Use Apple Watch to Unlock Apps and Mac option.
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- Click the Apple logo at the top and choose Restart.
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- Enable the unlock option in system preferences.
Disable Internet and Screen Sharing
- Click the Apple logo and then “System Preferences” at the top of the screen.
- Select the Share option.
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- Uncheck Screen Sharing and Internet Sharing.
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How to unlock a Mac with an iPhone
If you don’t have an Apple Watch, you can also use your iPhone to unlock your Mac There are third-party apps that allow you to pair your Mac and iPhone
Near Lock is one such application that lets you unlock your Mac using your iPhone This is a free app, but you need to upgrade to the paid pro version to use some features.
- Install the Near Lock app on your iPhone and Mac
- Launch the app on both iPhone and Mac
- In the main Mac interface, click the Add New Device button.
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- Your iPhone will inform you that the connection was successful when it is connected to the Mac Click the “Continue” button.
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- To lock your Mac, press and hold the Mac icon in the iPhone app. Do the same if you want to unlock your Mac
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- Tap the settings icon in the iPhone app to view various settings that you can change for this feature.
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- If you ever want to turn off the ability to unlock your Mac from your iPhone, click the Unpair Devices button in the Near Lock app on your Mac
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How do you unlock your Mac every day? Are you using the traditional password method, or have you moved on to using your Apple Watch or iPhone to unlock your computer? Let us know in the comments below.
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