Turn on Auto Unlock On your Mac, choose Apple menu System Preferences. Click Security & Privacy, then click General. Select “Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac.” If you have more than one Apple Watch, select the watch you. Here's what finally did work: Reboot the Mac in Safe Mode Log in and create a new admin user ('Test') Switch to Test Check the box for opening your Mac with the Watch twice Switch back to the main account and find it magically works now Delete the Test user and reboot. Auto Unlock is a Continuity feature, so it is limited to some of Apple's more recent machines. It is supported by all Mac models introduced in mid-2013 or later, and it requires an Apple Watch.
Auto Unlock works when you're wearing your unlocked watch and are very close to your Mac. If necessary, move your watch a little closer.
How to automatically log in
This feature gives you instant access to your Mac when you're wearing your Apple Watch. Just wake up your Mac and you’re ready to go—without typing a password.
The first time you log in after you turn on, restart, or log out of your Mac, you must log in by entering your password manually. After that, Apple Watch logs in for you.
How to approve other password requests
Apple Watch Device Locked
You can also use your Apple Watch to approve other requests to enter your administrator password. This feature requires watchOS 6 and macOS Catalina. It works anywhere you need to type your Mac password, such as when viewing passwords in Safari preferences, unlocking a locked note, approving an app installation, or unlocking settings in System Preferences.
For example, when you click the lock to make a change in System Preferences, your Mac prompts you to approve with Apple Watch or Touch ID:
To automatically enter your password without having to type it, just double-click the side button on your Apple Watch:
How to set up Auto Unlock
- Make sure that your Mac and Apple Watch meet the system requirements for Auto Unlock.
- Make sure that your devices are set up as follows:
- Your Mac has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on.
- Your Mac and Apple Watch are signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID, and your Apple ID is using two-factor authentication.
- Your Apple Watch is using a passcode.
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Security & Privacy. Select ”Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac” or ”Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac.”
If you're not sure whether your Mac supports Auto Unlock, press and hold the Option key while choosing Apple menu > System Information. Select Wi-Fi in the sidebar, then look for ”Auto Unlock: Supported” on the right:
Learn more
If you're having difficulty getting Auto Unlock to work, try these solutions:
- In Security & Privacy preferences, deselect ”Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac” or ”Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac.” Then restart your Mac and turn this setting back on.
- Make sure that your Mac isn't using Internet sharing or screen sharing.
Macbook mojave 10 14 6. Learn about more Continuity features for your Apple devices.
You’ve been able to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch for some time now. If your Mac is asleep, and you wake it up, if you’ve activated this feature, the Mac confirms your identity via your Apple Watch and wakes up.
Open Mac With Watch
This is an interesting chain of identification. It requires that you have two-factor authentication turned on for your Apple ID, and having authenticated on your iPhone by entering your passcode, your Apple Watch then inherits this authentication (or you can authenticate on the Apple Watch by entering its passcode), and the Mac then accepts this as proof that the watch belongs to you.
To activate this feature, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and check Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac.
This allows you to wake up your Mac, and approve certain secure actions in macOS. For example, if you want to access a secure preference pane – one that shows a padlock at the bottom left of the window – click the padlock then authenticate on your watch by pressing the side button twice (this is the same gesture you use to authenticate for Apple Pay).
Another action where you can use your Apple Watch to authenticate is if you want to delete files in certain folders. For example, to delete an app downloaded via the Mac App Store, you need to authenticate:
Piano tutorial software download. If you have a Mac with Touch ID, the Mac defaults to using that option for authentication, but if you have an iMac, which doesn’t offer Touch ID, this can make it a lot easier to perform secure tasks.
Note that this feature is only available to recent Macs, ones that support Continuity and Handoff, not all recent Macs can perform all of these operations. See this Apple support document for more information.