These solutions take away the need for providing a password every time you want to unlock your Mac. Once the Mac has been paired up with your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Apple Watch, you can remotely unlock it (from a limited distance) using your Touch ID, iOS Passcode, or directly using your iOS device or even Apple Watch. This can be a handy feature to use when you’re in a hurry, or if you want to unlock your computer in front of someone else, without risking a possible password theft.
Mar 29, 2019 With the Apple Watch and macOS Sierra, you can unlock your computer without having to type in your password. Simply hold your watch close to the login screen and you'll be logged in automatically. In order to enable this feature, you'll need to have Two-Factor Authentication enabled for your account, which helps keep your account more secure. For some reason Apple hasn’t yet made it possible to unlock a Mac when an iPhone is near with its own software, but there are apps available on the App Store which can enable the feature. Oct 17, 2019 Approving App Store downloads. Unlocking System Preferences. Unlocking protected notes in the Notes app. Viewing your Safari passwords. Wrapping it up. Being able unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch is a great feature. And this option to use your Apple Watch to approve requests and view passwords makes it even better. Are you going to set.
Note: These apps utilize Bluetooth Low Energy technology (version 4.0 or above) to connect your iOS device with your Mac. The list of Bluetooth 4.0 LE supported Mac and iOS devices can be found here.
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Unlock Mac with Touch ID
If you have a Touch ID supported iOS device (like the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus or the new iPad Air), you can use it to unlock your Mac.
FingerKey
FingerKey is a simple iOS app that helps to unlock your computer (currently supported for Macs, Windows and Linux versions coming soon) with your Touch ID supported iOS devices.
The app has two parts — an iOS app called FingerKey, which takes your fingerprint input, and a Mac client called FingerLock, which unlocks your computer by verifying the Touch ID input from the iOS app. For unlocking, the Mac client will ask for your Mac password during the setup. The password is stored and exchanged between devices using 256-bit AES encryption. You’ll also need to pair your iOS device with your Mac via Bluetooth during the setup process.
Once the setup process is complete, you’ll be able to lock and unlock your computer remotely using your Touch ID supported iPhone or iPad. The app supports unlocking multiple computers using a single Touch ID. FingerKey also has a Today Widget for faster access to the app from the iOS Notification Center.
FingerKey can be purchased from the iOS App Store for $1.99. It’s companion Mac app can be downloaded for free from the official website.
Unlock Mac with iOS password
FingerKey only allows you to unlock your Mac using Touch ID compatible iOS devices. If you want to unlock Mac using your iOS Passcode (especially if you don’t have a Touch ID supported device), with additional Touch ID support, you can try the other apps like MacID.
MacID
MacID lets you to unlock your Mac with your fingerprints (Touch ID) or iOS passcode. It is quite similar to FingerKey, but includes a host of additional features. The instructions that follow will guide you to set up MacID on your Mac and iOS device.
MacID uses the stored Mac password to automatically unlock your computer once your iOS passcode or Touch ID has been verified.
Additional Features
Exchange clipboard text between iOS and Mac: MacID can transfer copied text from your iOS device to your Mac and vice versa.
Music controls: Play any song on your Mac from your iOS Device using MacID. Once connected to your Mac, you can control music playback using Play/Pause, Previous, Next, Volume Up, Volume Down control buttons provided in the iOS app.
Proximity features: MacID can automatically determine whether your iOS device is present near you Mac or not. Based on this, you may configure MacID to automatically lock your Mac whenever you move away (with your iOS device) from your Mac, and automatically turn on the display as soon as you come back.
Tap to unlock: If you want to unlock your Mac without any password, you can try the Tap to unlock feature of MacID. This feature allows you to unlock your Mac using a custom three-tap pattern lock. Taps are registered using the Mac touchpad or Magic Mouse, and support multi-touch gestures. Once Tap to unlock is set up, you can make the unlock process more difficult to guess by preceding the actual unlock with some dummy taps.
Notification Alerts: If your Mac is locked and someone else tries to access it while you’re away, MacID will send an appropriate notification to your iOS device so that you can act upon it immediately.
Note: Notifications, music controls and proximity features depend on Bluetooth connectivity, and will not work if your Mac and iOS device are not within Bluetooth range.
MacID is probably the best way to unlock your Mac without the Mac password. But the app only allows you to unlock Macs using Touch ID or iOS passcode. If you don’t have a Touch ID supported iOS device and don’t want to type a password for unlocking your Mac, you may even use your iOS device to unlock it (without Touch ID or iOS Passcode).
Unlock Mac directly with iOS device
If you want to unlock your Mac without having to supply any kind of password at all, Knock is one great app to look out for.
Knock
People usually carry their phones with them all the time. With an app called Knock, now you can use your iPhone to unlock your Mac. Rather than working through a full-fledged app, Knock works as simply as knocking your iPhone twice to unlock your Mac. Just install the Knock app from the App Store and install the Mac client from the official website, and you’re good to go.
Features
Auto lock: Knock automatically locks down your Mac when your iOS device is moved away from it. Thus, even if you move away from your Mac without locking it, Knock will ensure that it is locked automatically.
A faster, safer way to unlock Mac: Rather than typing a password, your Mac can be unlocked with just two knocks on your iPhone.
Your Apple Watch isn't only useful for tracking your fitness or using Apple Pay: If you have a compatible Mac, you can also use Auto Unlock: The feature (which requires macOS Sierra or later and watchOS 3 or later) lets you pair your watch to your Mac; once you've done so, you can automatically unlock your computer just by sitting down in front of it, no password required — if your Apple Watch is unlocked and on your wrist when you sit down. Here's how.
Before you start using Auto Unlock
Before you start using Auto Unlock, you'll need to make sure your Mac and Apple Watch are compatible, and that you've set up two-factor (not two-step) authentication for your iCloud account.
Make sure you own the right Mac and Apple Watch![]()
To use Auto Unlock, you'll need:
Unlocking Mac With Apple Watch
Make sure you've updated your operating system
If you own an Apple Watch Series 0, 1, or 2, you'll need to be running watchOS 3 or later on your smartwatch; additionally, your compatible Mac needs to be running macOS Sierra or later. Newer Apple Watches need watchOS 4 or higher.
Note: Your Mac must have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on.
Enable two-factor authentication for your iCloud account
Because you can use Auto Unlock to bypass your Mac's login password, Apple wants to make sure your computer is as safe as can be by enabling two-factor authentication on your iCloud account.
Note that we said two-factor, not two-step — the latter was Apple's older enhanced security protocol, while the former is the company's most secure version. If you already use two-step verification, you'll have to disable it in order to start using two-factor authentication.
In order to enable two-factor authentication, your iPhone will also need to be running iOS 9 or higher.
Make sure your Apple Watch and Mac are signed in to the same iCloud account
In order to use Auto Unlock, your Apple Watch and Mac must be using the same iCloud account. Make sure you've signed in on both devices with the same Apple ID.
Make sure your Mac and Apple Watch both have a passcode
You may not have thought it necessary to use a passcode with your Apple Watch when you first set it up, but if you want to use Auto Unlock, you'll need one.
Unlock Mac With Apple Watch Mac App Store
You also need to set up a login password on your Mac.
Lastly: Put your Apple Watch on
If your Apple Watch isn't unlocked and on your wrist, you won't be able to connect it with your Mac. If it is on your wrist and unlocked, your Mac will register the device and allow you to turn on Auto Unlock.
How to enable Auto Unlock on your Mac
Once you've prepared your devices, enabling Auto Unlock is a breeze.
Note: If you don't see the box to allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac, there's an issue. Review your preparatory steps above; if you're still seeing a problem, check out our troubleshooting guide.
Troubleshooting Auto Unlock: Why can't I see Auto Unlock on my Mac?![]()
There are a few additional steps you may have to take if you can't enable Auto Unlock. We've got a full guide below:
Any questions?
Let us know in the comments!
Updated May 2020: Updated for the new MacBook Pro.
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