How To Unlock iPhone While Wearing a Face Mask
Nowadays, it’s mandatory to wear a mask in almost every public space. So whether it’s in the supermarket or the airport, wearing a mask is required.
But it may be annoying to unlock your iPhone this way. You may be used to unlocking your iPhone with Face ID, and all of a sudden, that lock symbol does not open. This leaves us with two options: using our passcode to open the iPhone or taking down our mask to be recognizable for our iPhone.
Fortunately, there is a third option to unlock our iPhone with a mask on by using the Apple Watch. This new integration between the iPhone and Apple Watch is a fantastic change Apple has released with iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4.
In a Nutshell
These are the steps that you need to follow to turn this feature on.
- Open your Settings app on your Home screen.
- Then tap on your Face ID & Passcode. Note that this setting is only available for iPhone X and newer.
- Enter your passcode to get through.
- Scroll down and tap on Unlock With Apple Watch.
- You now will get a prompt with an explanation of how this process works. Tap on Turn On.
- Now you’ll be able to Unlock your iPhone with Apple Watch while wearing a mask.
Unlock Your iPhone While Wearing a Mask With Apple Watch
Before starting with the steps, I need to tell you about some conditions to let your Apple Watch work seamlessly with your iPhone.
- You should have your Apple Watch on (or nearby).
- The Apple Watch should be unlocked.
- It should have a Passcode enabled.
- Your iPhone should have iOS 14.5 or newer.
- Your Apple Watch should have WatchOS 7.4 or newer.
- The wrist detection feature on your Apple Watch should be enabled.
Once you went through these conditions, you can set up your iPhone and Apple Watch to unlock your iPhone without taking your face mask off.
The steps you need to go through to unlock your iPhone while wearing a mask are as follow:
- Open your Settings app on your Home screen.
- Then tap on your Face ID & Passcode. Note that this setting is only available for iPhone X and newer.
- Enter your passcode to get through.
- Scroll down and tap on Unlock With Apple Watch.
- You now will get a prompt with an explanation of how this process works. Tap on Turn On.
- Now you’ll be able to Unlock your iPhone with Apple Watch while wearing a mask.
This tweak allows you to keep your face mask on in public places and use your iPhone simultaneously. How it works is simple. First, you put your iPhone, as usual, in front of your face. The iPhone will not be able to recognize you since you have a mask on. But instead of remembering your face, your iPhone will detect that you’re wearing your Apple Watch. If that’s the case, it will unlock your iPhone.
This process goes very fast, and you don’t even notice all these steps your iPhone goes through. You only need to make sure that the criteria we just spoke about are met.
What if Someone Else Tries To Unlock My iPhone This Way?
That’s a legit concern, and you should read more about it. But to give you an honest answer: Yes, someone else may be able to open your iPhone this way wearing a mask. But the good news is that you will get an alert on your Apple Watch immediately when this happens.
Second, you’ll be able to lock your iPhone remotely from your Apple Watch again. The holder of your iPhone will not have access to it since unlocking it now has a passcode requirement.
Like I already said, unlocking your iPhone this way will not work if you don’t wear your Apple Watch. Also, you will not be able to have access to your Wallet app, password, and credit card auto-fill in Safari or Apple Pay this way. Therefore you need to fill in your passcode manually or just take your mask off if you can.
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