The other day my MacBook Pro prompted me with a notification that I could unlock the computer with my Apple Watch. I’ve had both the MacBook Pro and Apple Watch for more than a year, and while I normally leave my Bluetooth off, I had turned it on that morning to connect a wireless mouse, so my Mac made a discovery and a timely recommendation.
To enable unlocking your Mac with your Apple Watch, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy and check the “Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac” checkbox.
In order for this checkbox to appear, you must have both watchOS 3 or later and macOS Sierra or later, see these system specifications for more info. Also make sure your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are enabled. Finally, make sure your Mac and Apple Watch are both logged in to iCloud with the same Apple ID. This will enable your watch to talk to your Mac.
The next time you wake your Mac from sleep, your Mac will say, “Unlocking with Apple Watch…”
Moments later… viola! Your Watch should vibrate and prompt you with a confirmation:
For more information, visit the official Apple support page. Keep in mind that your Apple Watch must first be unlocked in order for it to unlock your Mac. This makes perfect sense for obvious security reasons, but unfortunately it greatly diminishes the convenience of this feature for me because I remove my watch from my wrist several times a day (e.g., for charging, showering, dishwashing), and I usually don’t re-enter the password after donning the watch. Therefore, the auto-unlocking is hit or miss for me. But if you normally re-enter your password after putting on your watch, or if you rarely remove your watch, you might have a better experience with this feature.
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