IOS 14.5 will be the best update of the pandemic era because it works with your Apple Watch to eliminate the hassle of unlocking your iPhone using a face mask. You do not need to enter your password every time. The phone just unlocks. As it should.
But the trick requires an Apple Watch. If you are looking forward to getting one, this feature should help a lot to convince you. It is yet another elegant example of how the Apple ecosystem offers users simple solutions to the hassles of modern life.
Currently unlocking your iPhone with the Apple Watch requires iOS and watchOS versions available only as public betas. (I will see how you can get these free updates in a moment.)
Unlocking Apple Watch iPhone: you need it
A typical trip to the supermarket for me starts with walking down the aisle and looking at the shopping list on my iPhone. Because I am healthy, I am wearing a mask. This means that I need to enter my iPhone password to see the list.
In the next aisle, I check the shopping list again, typing the password again to see it. It’s the same in the next hall. And the one after that. And after this. I do this repeatedly until it seems like I spent a third of the trip typing in the damn password.
But that was before I installed iOS 14.5 and tied an Apple Watch running watchOS 7.4. After doing that, I went back to the supermarket, looked at my iPhone, felt a quick “bump” on my Apple Watch and the iPhone unlocked.
This is all I need. It feels wonderful.
Partly, it is more convenient. Entering the password every time I unlock my iPhone with a mask was like a stone in my shoe. Not crippling, but an irritation that went on indefinitely.
But unlocking my iPhone at a glance also seems normal. And normality has been in short supply for a year of pandemic blockades and masking mandates.
It is not a security risk
Don’t worry that adding an Apple Watch to the mix makes your iPhone less secure. Your device will not unlock just because the wearable is close. The watch must be on your wrist, unlocked and protected by a password.
In addition, you still need to use Face ID. You need to look at your iPhone, which will recognize that it’s you wearing a mask. Only then will it verify that the Apple Watch is ready to verify your identity.
You will still need to enter your password to pay for purchases with Apple Pay. In addition, the Apple Watch iPhone unlock trick is completely optional. You need to activate it if you want to use it. (To learn more, read the Mac Worship guide on how to unlock your iPhone with your Apple Watch.)
Apple’s system contrasts sharply with the erroneously named Smart Unlock, which allows users to unlock their Android with a Fitbit. Android will give anyone access if that person puts on that Fitbit – very weak security.
Get iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4 now
The operating system updates you need for the Apple Watch iPhone unlock trick – iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4 – could debut next week. Currently available as public betas, they will certainly come soon.
If you are afraid to run beta software, you can wait. But I’ve been using pre-release versions of both for more than a month, with nothing to complain about.
Signing up for betas is easy. Requires only membership to the free Apple Beta Software Program. Don’t be intimidated: Visit the official website, click the sign-up button and log in with your Apple ID. Read the Mac Worship guide on how to obtain the public beta version of iOS 14.5 to learn more.
Installing the betas is a bit more work, but unlocking the iPhone with an Apple Watch is so incredible that it’s worth it. Especially if you have a job that makes wearing a mask mandatory all day, every day.