{"id":26706,"date":"2017-06-20T12:10:44","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T16:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/?p=26706"},"modified":"2017-06-20T10:13:16","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T14:13:16","slug":"how-to-unlock-your-mac-with-a-wave-of-your-hand-well-apple-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/how-to-unlock-your-mac-with-a-wave-of-your-hand-well-apple-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Unlock Your Mac with a Wave of Your Hand (well, Apple Watch)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s magic. You walk up to your Mac, touch a key to wake it up, and upon noticing that you\u2019re wearing your Apple Watch, it unlocks without making you enter a password. Brilliant! For some of us, it\u2019s almost a reason alone to get an Apple Watch.<\/p>\n

Auto Unlock, as Apple calls this feature, lets you protect your Mac with a strong password\u2014recommended for international spies and teenage girls alike\u2014without forcing you to type your password repeatedly. (You will have to type it the first time after you turn on, restart, or log out of your Mac.)<\/p>\n

To enable this protection and keep people out of your Mac when you\u2019re away, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and select \u201cRequire password after sleep or screen saver begins.\u201d Since your Apple Watch will be doing all the heavy lifting, feel free to set a short time span. Then select \u201cAllow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac.\u201d If the stars are smiling on you, that\u2019s all you\u2019ll need to do.<\/p>\n

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However, it\u2019s likely that something won\u2019t be quite right for Auto Unlock to function properly, since it has a bunch of requirements.<\/p>\n

First, make sure your hardware is new enough and sufficiently up-to-date. Your Mac must be from mid-2013 or later, and it must be running macOS 10.12 Sierra or later. (If you aren\u2019t sure about your Mac, see if that checkbox labeled \u201cAllow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac\u201d is present. If not, your Mac is too old.) Any model of Apple Watch will work, but it needs to be using at least watchOS 3.<\/p>\n

Next, you need to turn on two-factor authentication<\/a>. If you were using Apple\u2019s previous two-step verification, you must switch to two-factor authentication<\/a>. It adds an extra layer of security to your Apple devices and accounts, including iCloud, and is well worth doing in this day and age of password thefts. Plus, it ensures you don\u2019t have to remember those inscrutable security questions about your favorite elementary school teacher! The links earlier in this paragraph have more details, but you enable two-factor authentication in System Preferences > iCloud > Account Details > Security.<\/p>\n

Now for the checklist. For Auto Unlock to work:<\/p>\n