How to unlock MacBook with Apple Watch

Does it bother you that every time you have to unlock your MacBook you have to type in the password? Are you thinking of turning it off to speed things up? Well, I personally advise against it. By doing so, you could put your computer at great risk, exposing it to unauthorized access. If I were you I would rather consider an alternative unlocking solution, faster and, why not, even more secure: the Apple Watch.

You probably weren’t aware of it, but you should know that if you own a smartwatch from the Cupertino company you can use it not only to read the time, monitor notifications and do everything that can usually be done with the device in question, but also to unlock the computer!

How do you say? It sounds very interesting and, therefore, would you like to receive more details about it? No sooner said than done! Spend a few minutes of your precious time reading this guide focused on how to unlock MacBook with Apple Watch and I am sure that, in the end, you will be happy and satisfied with the results. Ready? Yup? Very well… let’s proceed!

Index

• Preliminary information
• Unlock MacBook with Apple Watch
• In case of doubts or problems

Preliminary information

Before getting to the heart of the tutorial, going to explain how to activate the function that allows you to unlock MacBook with Apple Watch and how to use it, there is some preliminary information about it that you need to know.

To begin with, know that the function that allows you to perform the operation covered by this tutorial is called Automatic unlock and, as anticipated at the beginning of the guide, if enabled it allows you to access the computer directly when the Apple Watch is worn , when there it is in the vicinity of the MacBook and when the smartwatch is in turn unlocked . If these conditions are met, to unlock the computer simply reactivate it .

In addition to unlocking the computer, this feature allows you to use the Apple Watch to approve other requests to enter the administrator password.

Note that, for security reasons, the first time you log in after turning on or restarting your MacBook or after logging out, you will still be asked to enter the password associated with the reference user account.

Please also note that the following basic requirements are required to take advantage of the Automatic Unlock function : a Mac manufactured from mid-2013 onwards with macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later installed and an Apple Watch updated to watchOS 3 or later. Speaking of which, if you find it useful, read my guides on how to update your Mac and how to update Apple Watch .

If you do not know which model of MacBook you have and which version of macOS you are using, you can find out by proceeding as follows: click on the bitten apple icon in the upper left part of the desk, select the About this Mac item from the menu that appears and you will find the information of your interest in the window that you will see appear on the screen, in the Overview tab .

A further confirmation of whether your MacBook supports the Automatic Unlock function or not can be obtained by selecting the bitten apple icon , top left, holding down the option / command key on the keyboard and selecting the System Information item from the menu that opens. In the window that you see appear on the screen, select the Wi-Fi item from the left sidebar, then the Automatic unlock item on the right and make sure that the word Supported appears in its correspondence .

If, on the other hand, you do not know which version of watchOS is installed on your smartwatch, you can find out by doing this: on Apple Watch, press on the Digital Crown to view the installed apps, select the Settings icon (the one in the shape of a gear wheel ), then the General item and then the Info item that you find on the next screen; on the iPhone, open the Watch app , select the General item in the Apple Watch section and then the Info .

Also know that to use Auto Unlock you must be logged in with the same Apple ID on both the MacBook and the Apple Watch and you must have activated two-factor authentication . Also, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth must be enabled on the Mac . Find more details in my guides on how to turn on Wi-Fi and how to turn on Bluetooth on Mac .

Unlock MacBook with Apple Watch

If you are ready to take action and, therefore, you want to find out how to unlock MacBook Pro with Apple Watch or any other model of MacBook , the instructions to which you must follow are the ones you find in this step.

First, if you haven’t done so already, wear your Apple Watch on your wrist and unlock it . Also make sure you are close to the MacBook.

Next, you need to worry about turning on the Auto Unlock feature on macOS. To do this, click on the System Preferences icon (the one in the shape of a gear wheel ) on the Dock bar and select the Security and Privacy item in the window that opens.

In the screen that is shown to you at this point, select the General tab and put a check mark on the box next to the option Use Apple Watch to unlock apps and Mac (if watchOS 6 or later is installed on Apple Watch) or next to the option Allow Apple Watch to unlock the Mac (if watchOS 3, 4 or 5 is installed on the Apple Watch), then type the password of your user account in the appropriate field and press the Unlock button .

After completing the above steps, to unlock your MacBook with the Apple Watch, simply wake up the MacBook by pressing any key on the keyboard or opening the screen. On the login screen that will subsequently be shown you will find a message indicating that the MacBook is being unlocked and, in the meantime, you will see a special notification appear on your Apple Watch .

As for the approval of the other requests to enter the administrator password, just press the side button of the clock twice consecutively when you see the related warnings appear on the macOS screen.

If you think about it, you can disable the Auto Unlock feature by going back to the System Preferences> Security and Privacy> General section of macOS and removing the check mark from the box next to the Use Apple Watch to unlock apps and Mac option or next to that Allow Apple Watch to unlock Mac .

In case of doubts or problems

Have you followed my instructions in detail, but unfortunately you still haven’t been able to unlock your MacBook with Apple Watch? If so, the best suggestion I can offer you is to try restarting your computer as well as your Apple Watch.

Often, a simple restart allows you to cope with many problems. If you don’t know how to proceed, you can follow the instructions in my guides on how to restart your Mac and how to turn off Apple Watch .

If you then can’t fix it with the restart, I suggest you visit the section of the Apple website dedicated to support and try to see if among the information available there are those that can do for you.

If, on the other hand, you think it is appropriate to get in direct contact with Apple’s assistance , know you can do it in various ways: by phone, by chat, by going to the Apple Store in person, etc. For more details on this, I refer you to reading my specific guide on how to contact Apple.