How to install Apple WatchOS 7 and iOS 14 betas so you can unlock your phone with your watch

Apple’s iOS 14.5 beta was released and with it comes the ability for your Apple Watch to unlock your Face ID protected phone if you’re wearing a mask. If you really want this feature now, you will have to download the latest betas for iOS and watchOS – something that comes with at least a small risk as it is unfinished software. There are bugs and features may change between updates. There have been reports in the past of watches being blocked by betas (although I haven’t found any for this release).

With all that said, I have been using the betas since they were launched and have not noticed anything with specific problems. So, if you’re willing to throw caution to the wind to get access to the new Apple Watch unlock feature, here’s how to get the betas.

First, go to beta.apple.com on your iPhone. If you have never participated in a public beta before, you will have to tap the sign up button and, if you have participated, you will be able to tap the login button.

Once you’re signed in, touch the down arrow on the header and go to Register your devices. I strongly recommend following Apple’s advice to make an archived backup of your device, as iCloud backups are not necessarily accessible if you have to return from a beta version. Apple explains how to make one on the sign-up page. Go ahead, I’ll be here when you get back.

After backing up your device, you can scroll down and touch the Download profile button, and your phone will prompt you to review the profile before installation.

Before we do that, though, let’s get the watch profile by scrolling to the top and choosing WatchOS from the list. There, you can tap the Download profile button and press Allow.

This will automatically open the Watch application, where you can press Install. This will reset the clock, so in the meantime, let’s install the phone’s profile by going to Settings and downloaded profile.

There, you can tap the Install button and your phone will restart.

After you download the profiles and reboot your devices, you’ll need to update your phone and then your watch. Unfortunately, you have to wait until the phone is updated before you even start the watch, so you cannot perform multiple tasks at the same time.

When you are officially running iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4, we can finally enable unlocking with the watch feature.

Go to Settings> Face ID and Password and scroll down to the new Unlock with Apple Watch option. Switching it on will activate the feature, there is nothing you need to do on the watch.

Now that you’ve installed it, here’s what you can expect. First of all, and the most important thing to note, is that your phone is not looking your face with mask, is looking for an face with mask. With this feature enabled, if my wife was wearing a mask, she would be able to unlock my phone without a problem if I was less than a meter away.

Apple’s mitigation for this is that whenever your Apple Watch is used to unlock your phone, it sends a notification to you saying that your phone has been unlocked, along with a button to lock it. Pressing this lock button immediately locks the phone and requires a password at the next unlock.

With that warning out of the way, I have so far had great success with the appeal. I tried it with a variety of masks, and it worked with all of them for me. It is interesting to note that, again, you are still looking for a face with a mask. This feature will not help you in the situation where your phone is on the table and you want to unlock it without the facial ID camera being able to see it.

Still, for me, not having to enter my password every time I want to check my shopping list while shopping is a great benefit and is worth what I consider a relatively small security disadvantage. The feature may not be for those with top secret information on their phones, but for everyone else it will be a good improvement in the quality of life, whether you decide to go for it now or wait for the official launch.