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How to Unlock Your Mac With Your Apple Watch
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I don't have a jealous lover or a backstabbing coworker. Those were just hypothetical examples.
To give you another example that does happen in my home: I have four kids (ages 1-3) who are very smart and fascinated by computers and phones and remote controls. They haven't figured out passwords yet, but it doesn't stop them from trying. If i had a document open and working on it, a three-year-old could easily do a lot of damage in the time it takes me to change a one-year-old's diaper.
As for Touch ID, yes, that would keep it secure. I'd like to see TouchID on the next MBP. But unlocking my computer with the TouchID on my phone would not be as convenient as using the Apple Watch. My phone is usually in my pocket, but sometimes on a charger several feet away. I'd have to dig it out of my pocket or go unplug it and take it near my computer. I may as well just type the password!
Mine doesn't have it either. Go through all the trouble to have a Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad and I can't even get a computer unlock? For shame.
That will be interesting (I don't have my new AW2 yet), because I frequently jump in and out of both accounts in the same day (different businesses on the one machine). Gotta see how this works!
The option doesn't appear on my Early 2013 MBP which really sucks. However, one weird thing I spotted whilst investigating is that my MBP shows my Apple Watch as running WatchOS 2.2.1 when it's actually running WatchOS 3.0. Anyone else seeing this or know why it's showing incorrect or know a fix for it?
Doesn't work with account switching. It only seems to unlock an account you've already logged into and let the screensaver/sleep activate on. Switching from my wife's account back to mine requires me to type in my password again.
There's this pretty cool new thing on the 'latest' iPhone called touchID. Sure would be pretty handy to popup a prompt on my phone to unlock my laptop. Hmm, now that I think about it, they DO do something like that with ApplePay. Someone should let them know that's too cumbersome for some people and should have it removed!
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Would still be more convenient then NO FEATURE AT ALL!
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Thanks for the link. Ordered the card and looking forward to getting this to work.
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I don't get how people justify not providing the feature on the iPhone due to 'security concerns', but not realize that anyone can put your watch on, and now your Mac's password is relegated to a 4 digit pin.
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Say you have a passcode on your Watch. You enter the passcode and the Watch only remains unlocked as long as it's on your wrist. Your wrist is near the computer when you open the screen, it recognizes this (using 802.11ac wifi, according to ArsTechnica, which is why only newer Macs support this) and unlocks the computer.
If it allowed your iPhone to unlock your Mac when the iPhone is locked, anyone could get into your computer by snagging your iPhone. If it allowed your iPhone to unlock the Mac but only when the iPhone itself is unlocked, is that really any more convenient? You still have to unlock something, and while TouchID is likely faster than entering your Mac's passcode, it requires you getting it out which is a bit counterintuitive.
People love to rip on Apple here lately, I've noticed, but I think they did a good job of implementing this. It definitely makes sense that it's a Watch-only feature.
The Ars Technica Sierra review: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/09/macos-10-12-sierra-the-ars-technica-review/
Its the feeling of 'exclusivity' and having something others don't have. This is the people that buy stuff to show off more than to use.
lol, like the world's most sold smartphone and smartwatch? The one literally sold out every year for weeks after release.
It's tied to an Apple ID. So unless multiple people in the same household are logged into the same Apple ID for iCloud (generally a bad idea unless you enjoy sharing all of your contacts and photos with each other), this shouldn't be an issue.
I only have one Watch so I haven't yet seen it in person, but I did see a video where it showed a list of Apple Watches allowed to unlock a particular Mac in System Preferences > Security and Privacy. Mine just has a check mark by "Allow Your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac."
Smartwatches are a tinyyyyyy fragment of the watch market then you subdivide that into the apple watch itself, you can see a few in the wild but its not something everyone around you wears.
ApplePay is a different situation. It comes up because the user initiated a purchase on a web page. So they know beforehand that they will need their phone to authenticate (at least until Apple releases Macs with TouchID). Also ApplePay helps keep your credit card data secure by only sending the tokenized number to the vendor.
Think about it: Unlocking your computer with your Watch is pretty seamless. You sit down at your computer and it unlocks for you automagically. The password prompt doesn't even appear. Just a notice that your watch is being used to unlock the screen, followed by a reassuring tap from your wrist.
Now, with the phone, you would receive a handy alert from the phone in your pocket. You pull out your phone and authenticate with TouchID. Simple. And if you decide you'd rather not get your phone out, you have the option of entering your passcode, after ten seconds, when the computer realizes you aren't going to authenticate using TouchID.
I get it: This feature does you no good if you don't have an Apple Watch, or if you have one but don't wear it, or if you hate Bluetooth and never turn it on. Universal cut and paste only supports iOS and macOS devices, so you can't copy from your Mac and paste on your Galaxy Note 7. Handoff is also only good for people who own more than one Apple device. It's how they get you roped into the whole Apple ecosystem.
But I don't agree that having a cumbersome feature that requires you to get your phone out to unlock your computer is more convenient than simply typing your password. That seems like the kind of gimmicky feature that most would turn off once they realized it wasn't saving them any time.
Unlocking with the Watch on the other hand, really does save time. And it can lead to more security. When testing, I realized that I had set my computer to lock five minutes after going to sleep. I was tired of going for a glass of water and having to enter my password when I got back. With the Watch to authenticate, I changed the setting to go to sleep sooner and to lock five seconds after going to sleep. Unlocking is no longer a chore, so I no longer leave my computer unlocked for long periods.
Doesn't work on my late 2012 iMac either - considering theres only been one spec bump refresh since I bought it, I kinda thought it would work - oh well that's the fun of owning Apple stuff eh!
It's not working for me. After having to screw around a bunch with MFA, I finally got everything setup.
When I try to login, however, It says "Authenticating with Apple Watch" for about 10 seconds and then gives up and presents me with a password field. Yes, my watch is on my wrist!
When I try to login, however, It says "Authenticating with Apple Watch" for about 10 seconds and then gives up and presents me with a password field. Yes, my watch is on my wrist!
Not gimmicky if you use a complex password, which I'm sure everyone does. (/s for the last part). But seriously, a good chunk of people take their phones out and put it on their desk (especially the plus series as those are unwieldy to sit with in your pocket). Dare I say that more people have their phones sitting in front of them on their desks then there are people with watches on their wrists. And again, if it's too 'cumbersome' to unlock your computer, how is it not for Apple Pay? I'm not denying that the watch will provide a more seamless and better experience. But you can't deny that the only reason not to offer it on the iPhone is purely to sell more watches. They obviously made ApplePay work with the iPhone because they get a cut of every sale. That's the type of greed coming from Apple that irritates me.
Full disclosure, I have the iPhone 7+, Watch2, and will be buying the latest MacBookPro once it's released. I even bought the adapter to make it work with my current 2012. I'm an Apple fan, but that doesn't mean I can't criticize them.
I'm having exactly the same issue ! It authenticates my Watch for a few seconds, then brings up the usual password field ..
What gives ?
Same situation, and I get the same message on both my 2015 iMac and 2016 MacBook. Don't want to get into signing out of iCloud on all my devices, because it can be a pain to sign back in.
I had to Unpair my Watch from my iPhone and then Pair it back again. Otherwise I could not get it to show up as a trusted device after switching to two-factor authentication no matter what else I tried. It was a pain, but I finally have it working now.
How is sierra's system better than the macID app, which can put your mac to sleep when you leave it, turn it on automatically when you approach (proximity) etc? (I'm having trouble getting the sierra unlock to work, so maybe that explains my grumbling)
I can deny that's the only reason. And what's more, I do.
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Mine works with my iMac (also late 2015). One thing I found was that your watch has to be within about 18 inches (give or take) from the computer. No problem on my MBP, but my iMac has a bluetooth keyboard and trackpad, which are sometimes farther from the computer. So sometimes I get a message that the wifi signal is not strong enough.
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If it works, it's better because it is integral to the OS. The macID app is a bolt-on utility. Sometimes these bolt-ons work by exploiting some security flaw or find an ingeniously cool (but unsupported) method for controlling Apple's UI. One innocuous change by Apple to fix a vulnerability or improve their UI could cause the bolt-on to stop working correctly.