Understanding the unlocking problems of iPhone users, Apple is creating a new way to help them through their Apple Watches. As spotted in iOS 14.5 beta, iPhone users having Apple Watches can use the latter to unlock their phones without typing in the passcode, nor use Face ID. This works by sending haptic feedback when both the devices are connected, and in close proximity.
New Way to Unlock iPhones
It’s true that bypassing phone authentication should be tough, but not to you. Unlocking the encrypted phone immediately to check on notifications or to make an immediate payment shouldn’t be blocked since you’re wearing a mask! But this happened to be a struggle for many iPhone users lately.
The latest iPhone 12 series has ditched the home button, which served as both a fingerprint scanner and for many inner functionalities. While Apple did make their screen size bigger by removing it, they made it hard for mask-wearing users to unlock their handsets, that are having either Face ID or passcode authentication.
Either the users are forced to take off their mask while unlocking through Face ID, or manually enter the passcode since there’s no fingerprint authentication. But, this is going to change as the maker is bringing support for smart unlocking through a connected Apple Watch.
Under this, users having both the Apple Watch and iPhone will be able to unlock their phones instantly just by holding it. If your iPhone is on a surface resting, lifting it by holding wakes up the screen, and you’d sense haptic feedback from your Apple watch saying the connected iPhone is unlocked.
This happens only if the Watch is in an unlocked state, and doesn’t work on authenticating purchases in iTunes or AppStore. Also, as good security practice, it may regularly ask you to type in the passcode. This support will be coming in iOS 14.5, which is now in beta rolled just yesterday, and may take weeks to roll out to everyone.