There are many benefits to using an Apple Watch with an iPhone, but what if I told you it’s also a great companion for your Mac? Here are five ways using an Apple Watch with a Mac can make your life easier.
5
Unlock Your Mac Seamlessly
A big reason to consider wearing an Apple Watch when working on your Mac is the Auto Unlock feature. Auto Unlock allows you to unlock your Mac without typing a password or authenticating yourself using Touch ID. This is really useful if you use a Mac (iMac, mini, or Studio) or one of the older MacBook models that don’t offer Touch ID.
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Auto Unlock is easy to set up. First, ensure you’ve signed in to your Mac and Apple Watch with the same Apple Account and have two-factor authentication turned on. Next, set a passcode on your Apple Watch if you haven’t already, and turn on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on both devices.
Then, on your Mac, launch System Settings and go to “Touch ID & Password” or “Login Password” (depending on your Mac model). Under the Apple Watch section, toggle on the switch beside your Apple Watch name. Make sure your Apple Watch is unlocked before you do this.
You’ll now see a pop-up box on your Mac asking you to enter your administrator password. Type it in and click “Allow.”
Your Mac will now begin syncing. Once it finishes, you’ll have the Auto Unlock feature enabled on your device.
To test it, lock your Mac or put it to sleep. You can do this by clicking the Apple icon in the menu bar and selecting an appropriate option.
Once your Mac sleeps or the screen turns off, bring your Apple Watch closer, and it should automatically unlock the Mac. You’ll feel a vibration on your wrist confirming that your Mac was automatically unlocked using your Apple Watch.
If it doesn’t work, you can try a few fixes to troubleshoot the Auto Unlock functionality on your Apple Watch. Occasionally, you’ll need to unlock your Mac with a password (like after a full system restart).
4
Approve Authentication Requests
Enabling the Auto Unlock feature on your Mac doesn’t just allow you to unlock your Mac faster but also helps with a few other things. Approving authentication requests from apps, be it to unlock an app installed on your Mac or download a new app, is one such ability.
Thanks to this, you can easily unlock the Apple Passwords app or your preferred password manager (if it supports Auto Unlock) right from your wrist. Similarly, you can approve app installation requests, unlock your private tabs in Safari, unlock the Hidden album in the macOS Photos app, and approve setting changes in System Settings.
To do any of this, with your Apple Watch near your Mac, click on a button in the app that prompts the authentication and sends a request to your Apple Watch. This could be clicking the “Unlock with Touch ID” button in the case of Bitwarden, for example.
Once you see the request on your Apple Watch, double-click the Side button to approve it.
You should now be authenticated and ready to access or use the app.
3
Make Apple Pay Payments
Alongside approving authentication requests, you can also make payments for online purchases on your Mac using your Apple Watch. This is possible thanks to Apple Pay, and you can take advantage of it in apps like Safari and the App Store.
Approving payment requests is easy. Once you initiate a purchase, you’ll get a prompt on your Apple Watch. Double-press the Side button to make the payment, and the purchase should be complete.
Another advantage of having an Apple Watch on your wrist is that it can help you control music playing on your Mac. You’ll find this most useful when you’ve got music playing on your Mac at your desk and want to control the playback from a distance.
All you need for this is the watchOS version of the music app, like Apple Music or Spotify, installed on your Apple Watch. We’ll take Spotify as an example. Then, find and open the Spotify app on your Apple Watch. From here, you can see all the details about the song playing, go to the previous or next track, pause or play music, change the output device, and more.
You can also adjust the volume of the playback. Simply scroll the Digital Crown clockwise or anti-clockwise, and it’ll increase or decrease the volume respectively. You’ll see a green slider to the right indicating the same.
Subsequently, you can access the app from the Smart Stack. Head to your widget stack by swiping up from the bottom of the screen on your Apple Watch, and you’ll see the Spotify widget.
Tap it to open the app on your Apple Watch.
1
Navigate or Control Presentation Slides on Your Mac
If you use Apple Keynote for delivering presentations regularly and own an Apple Watch, you can use it as a remote controller to control your presentations. This way, you won’t have to stand beside your Mac throughout the act.
To do this, you first need to set up your iPhone as a remote control for your Mac. Make sure your iPhone and Mac are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Then, open Keynote on your iPhone, tap the Remote button (phone with a play icon), and hit “Continue.”
Allow Keynotes access to find devices on your local network by tapping “Allow.” Go to your Mac and open the Keynote app. Click “Keynote” in the menu bar and select “Settings.” Go to the “Remotes” tab and tick the checkbox beside “Enable.”
You’ll now see your iPhone name here. Click the “Link” button next to your iPhone and confirm the pairing by approving the numbers on the screen.
Now, add the Keynote app to your Apple Watch (you can do this via the Watch app). Once installed, open the app. Tap “Continue” to enable the Wake on Wrist Raise feature since it works best with that.
With the setup complete, open the presentation you want to present on your Mac. Go to the Keynote app on your Apple Watch and tap the play button to start the slideshow. If tapping the play button doesn’t begin the presentation, try starting it from your iPhone first.
To go to the previous slide, swipe right on the play/pause screen, then tap the “Back” button. Similarly, tap the “Next” button to go to the next slide.
When you want to close the presentation, tap “Exit Slideshow.”
Using your Apple Watch with your Mac can help you squeeze even more value from it. However, its goodness doesn’t stop there. Your Apple Watch is full of lesser-known tricks that can be useful in everyday life. Plus, if you’ve recently updated your Apple Watch, you’ll find several hidden watchOS 11 features onboard that can help unlock even more potential.
