A pedestrian in a protective mask uses her cell phone while walking past an Apple iPhone ad on Orchard Road in Singapore.
Wei Leng Tay | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Apple will soon let you unlock your iPhone, as long as you’re wearing an Apple Watch. That means it will be a lot easier to unlock your phone while wearing a mask, which you currently need to remove for Face ID to work.
The feature will launch sometime this spring when Apple releases iOS 14.5 for iPhones and the accompanying Apple Watch update. It requires you to have an Apple Watch on your wrist, unlocked, and with its own passcode.
It works very well. If you have a Mac and an Apple Watch, you may be familiar with the process – you can already unlock a Mac just by getting close to it with your Apple Watch, for example.
The experience is really comparable to the iPhone. If you have a mask (or even if you don’t), just swipe up from the bottom of the screen on your iPhone. Your iPhone scans part of your face, and your Apple Watch emits a little buzz that it was used to unlock your iPhone. It unlocks in an instant, just like Face ID does when you’re not wearing a mask.
I have also tested it with more than just a mask. I held up my shirt and covered everything except my forehead and eyes, and it worked. It wouldn’t work if I blocked my entire face or if I tried to unlock the phone without standing in front of it.
Here’s how to set it up when iOS 14.5 comes out.
How to unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch
Unlock my iPhone with my Apple Watch with iOS 14.5.
Todd Haselton | CNBC
I tested this with the iOS 14.5 beta. But once the software is available to everyone this spring, you can follow these steps to install the software.
- Open Settings on your iPhone.
- Tap Face ID & Passcode.
- Enter the passcode of your iPhone.
- Scroll down to Unlock with Apple Watch.
- Turn on the button next to your Apple Watch so that it is on.
That is it. Now when you unlock your iPhone with a mask on, you will feel a soft buzz on your Apple Watch as it unlocks your iPhone.