“Starting with macOS Sierra and above, Apple implemented the ability to unlock your Mac when you are in proximity, and wearing your Apple Watch,” Mike Wuerthele writes for AppleInsider. “Sounds simple enough — but there are a few pre-requisites to fulfill before it works reliably.”
“The features requires an Apple Watch with watchOS 3 or later (which we had), and macOS Sierra (which we had) running on a mid-2013 or newer Mac (we had a 2012 Retina MacBook Pro),” Wuerthele writes. “Plus, there’s a new requirement. If you have a Series 3 Apple Watch, your Mac must not only be mid-2013 or newer, but must also be running High Sierra.”
‘Obviously, auto log-in on your Mac must be disabled and a password must be set. If you haven’t set one, best passcode practices suggest it not be the same as your connected iPhone’s,” Wuerthele writes. “Your Apple Watch must also have a passcode —otherwise the whole procedure fails.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
You’re welcome! But I asked to be able to do with with the iPhone!! Not the Apple Watch! Be nice to see both be able to unlock your Mac!
$300 power button? No thanks. Cashxx is totally right, Apple should not be artificially limiting this feature on iPhones. Or better still, a Touchid keyboard for desktop machines. Or was the 2016 touchID for macbooks just a short term stopgap gimmick that Apple will abandon so we can stare into cameras every second of our screen time?
In all fairness, its not saying go out and buy a Apple Watch to unlock your Mac, it says “If” you have a Apple watch. But sadly, for me no bueno as my Mac Mini is late 2012.
From my experience it doesn’t work reliably, I’d say it works about a third of the time. It’s great when it works, though, it’s too bad Apple can’t get it to work well, it’s really buggy.