How to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch

The last time you tried to unlock your iPhone with Face ID, your device ran into a problem recognizing you and you were eventually forced to enter the passcode. Perhaps your face was partially covered – perhaps by a scarf or a mask – and in this case it is easy to guess what went wrong in the process.

Fed up with the thing, which now repeats itself every day, you started looking for solutions to the problem and you discovered that there is a function to unlock the iPhone using an Apple Watch. Being you an owner of the aforementioned smartwatch (or being in the process of buying one) you would therefore like some more information and would like to understand, in practice, how to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch. Well, if that is the case, I am happy to tell you that you are in the right place!

In this guide, in fact, we will see in detail what are the steps to follow to activate the unlocking of the iPhone with Apple Watch, not before having reviewed the basic requirements to be able to take advantage of this possibility. If, therefore, you are ready to start, take a few minutes of free time and continue reading: you will find all the information you need right below.

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch
  • Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch WiFi
  • Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch without WiFi
• How to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch with bezel

Preliminary information

Before getting into the tutorial, let me tell you what are the essential requirements to be able to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch. In summary, to unlock an iPhone with an Apple Watch you need.

• An iPhone with Face ID updated to at least iOS 14.5. For more information on how to update iOS, read my guide on the subject.
• An Apple Watch Series 3 or later updated to at least watchOS 7.4. For more details on how to update Apple Watch, read my guide on the subject.
• Apple Watch must be paired with iPhone: in this guide you will find everything you need to do it.
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth must be turned on on iPhone and Apple Watch. It is fine even if the Wi-Fi is not connected to any Internet network; just make sure that the corresponding icons in the two Control Centers (iPhone and Apple Watch) are colored blue. To make sure that Bluetooth is also active on your wearable device, go to Settings> Bluetooth and check that the lever next to the Bluetooth item is green (it is by default, but you may have disabled the connection in the past. If you actually find it turned off, just press on it).
• A passcode and the wrist detection function must be active on the Apple Watch: in this regard, you can always read another tutorial I wrote on how to unlock Apple Watch.
• The Apple Watch you wear on your wrist must be unlocked (i.e. you must have entered the code at least once after restarting and putting it on).
• You need to make sure that your nose and mouth are properly covered. Automatic unlocking with Apple Watch won’t work if, for example, your eyes are covered. The function has been designed with the precise intent of facilitating unlocking with a mask in times of pandemic.

How to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch

To answer your question on how to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch, I’ll go through the steps on how to configure this function directly from your iPhone’s Settings.

First of all, open the Settings app after finding it on the Home screen, scroll to Face ID and code and press on it; enter the code as required. From this view, locate the Unlock with Apple Watch section and activate the feature by pressing the toggle next to the watch name ( Apple Watch of [your name] ).

If something goes wrong, you probably haven’t met the above requirements; for example, the pulse detection function may not be active and in cases like this you need to take some extra steps. I’ll briefly illustrate it below.

Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch (accessible from the application menu, recalled by pressing the digital crown of the watch). In the menu that appears, look for the Code item and press on it. Then turn the Digital Crown or swipe your finger to the bottom of this screen, where you will find an additional item with a lever next to it: Pulse Detection. Press on this lever and you will have activated the very useful pulse detection.

All right, everything is ready and configured. “How do I unlock iPhone with Apple Watch ?” You may be wondering now. Simple! Get a face mask, put it on, and wake your iPhone as you normally would, such as lifting it up or tapping the screen.

At this point, look at the device: done? Unlocked? If everything went as expected, you should have felt a series of light touches on the wrist (this is a haptic feedback ) and the lock at the top of the screen should appear open. Feel free to swipe up to access your device.

When unlocking is successful, some information is also displayed on the Apple Watch. First of all, the watch offers you the possibility to lock iPhone again by pressing the Lock iPhone button. This option is very useful in case of involuntary unlocks, but remember that at the next attempt you will have to re-enter the code (pressing that button will also disable Face ID). In addition to this, a simple notice appears briefly telling you that “(your name )’s iPhone” has been “unlocked with this Apple Watch”.

Please note that the first time you try to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch after a while (or after the first activation of the function in question), you will have to type in the iPhone unlock code, for security.

Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch WiFi

As we have seen talking about the requirements, to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch it is necessary that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are active on both devices. If you want to know how to physically activate Wi-Fi, don’t worry: you are in the right place. First of all, for the purpose of unlocking, the Apple Watch does not need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network (this also applies to the iPhone, to be honest).

What we are going to see in this guide, therefore, concerns only the activation of the Wi-Fi , not the actual connection to an Internet network (if you need more information on this specific point, you could consult my two guides on how to connect Apple Watch to Wi-Fi and how to turn on Wi-Fi on iOS devices in general ).

To activate Wi-Fi on iPhone, swipe down from the top right corner of the screen (where you will find the signal and battery icons, as well as any active connections) and you will then have access to the Center of Control. Press on the Wi-Fi icon so that it turns blue. That’s it: you don’t need anything else. Alternatively, you can achieve the same result by opening the Settings app > Wi-Fi and tapping the corresponding lever.

To activate Wi-Fi on Apple Watch, instead, swipe from the bottom up from the home screen (the face) of the watch and – as before – press the Wi-Fi icon. You can also do it from Settings> Wi-Fi in a very similar way to what was said for iPhone.

Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch without WiFi

At this point you may be wondering: is it possible to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch without Wi-Fi? One would say no, looking back on what we have highlighted so far regarding the requirements, but the answer – apparently – is yes. And not only because activating Wi-Fi does not imply that the devices are actually connected to the Internet: in this sense, in fact, Wi-Fi is not needed at all.

This means that it is possible to take advantage of this function in all those situations where Wi-Fi is not available, for example when we are away from home, but our test also shows that unlocking works in any case regardless of the active Wi-Fi or not active (not just “connected” or “not connected” to an Internet network). Conclusions? To unlock iPhone with Apple Watch, just the Bluetooth connection is enough.

How to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch with bezel

If you were wondering, specifically, how to unlock iPhone with Apple Watch with mask, I inform you that the instructions I have just given you are also valid for this purpose, indeed especially for this purpose I would say, so you just need to put into practice the instructions that I have already given you in previous chapters.

And if you want to know how to unlock iPhone with mask even without Apple Watch, read the tutorial I dedicated to the topic, in which you will find useful tips in this regard.