Apple Watch authentication for more actions tipped for macOS 10.15
The Apple Watch could be used to perform more authentication for the Mac in macOS 10.15, as it is thought the operating system update will expand the usage of the wearable device to authenticate users for more tasks than just unlocking the Mac without entering a password.
Since the introduction of macOS Sierra, the Apple Watch had the ability to unlock a Mac when it is work by the user and positioned nearby to the device. As a worn piece of biometric security, it was able to be used as a security token and to automatically unlock the Mac, saving users from authenticating manually each time.
The Apple Watch can also be used to authenticate an Apple Pay transaction on a Mac, using the double-click action similar to an in-store payment, and can also be used instead of a Touch ID authentication for the payment with some MacBook models.
For the next major release of macOS, the functionality may be expanded to allow the Apple Watch to be used as authentication for a wider selection of tasks. Sources speaking to 9To5Mac allegedly familiar with the development of macOS did not mention what kind of items could use the presence of an Apple Watch as authentication, but it is likely to be able to cover practically any instance where Touch ID would be an acceptable authentication measure.
Due to the potential for some transactions to not be secure enough to automatically be authorized by the existence of an Apple Watch, it is plausible a new user interface element will be introduced to watchOS to authorize transactions from the Apple Watch display.
If Apple is to introduce expanded Apple Watch-based authentication, it is likely the company will show off the feature alongside other new functions at the Worldwide Developers Conference, which will start from June 3rd. Current speculation has Apple introducing standalone Music, Podcasts, and TV apps in macOS, as it separates out some of the functions of iTunes.
Since the introduction of macOS Sierra, the Apple Watch had the ability to unlock a Mac when it is work by the user and positioned nearby to the device. As a worn piece of biometric security, it was able to be used as a security token and to automatically unlock the Mac, saving users from authenticating manually each time.
The Apple Watch can also be used to authenticate an Apple Pay transaction on a Mac, using the double-click action similar to an in-store payment, and can also be used instead of a Touch ID authentication for the payment with some MacBook models.
For the next major release of macOS, the functionality may be expanded to allow the Apple Watch to be used as authentication for a wider selection of tasks. Sources speaking to 9To5Mac allegedly familiar with the development of macOS did not mention what kind of items could use the presence of an Apple Watch as authentication, but it is likely to be able to cover practically any instance where Touch ID would be an acceptable authentication measure.
Due to the potential for some transactions to not be secure enough to automatically be authorized by the existence of an Apple Watch, it is plausible a new user interface element will be introduced to watchOS to authorize transactions from the Apple Watch display.
If Apple is to introduce expanded Apple Watch-based authentication, it is likely the company will show off the feature alongside other new functions at the Worldwide Developers Conference, which will start from June 3rd. Current speculation has Apple introducing standalone Music, Podcasts, and TV apps in macOS, as it separates out some of the functions of iTunes.
Comments
Also I paid for Mexican food the other day on my Mac from my Watch Series 0. Pretty cool. More Watch integration will be pretty sweet. Something else the WinDroid world can't touch.
Edit - I guess the payment functionality might theoretically be possible on certain devices, but I'd like to see someone do it on 5S/series 0 vintage devices.
My hopes aren’t that high as unlocking my Mac rarely works for me. It happens so infrequently that I had forgotten it’s a feature. It went from rarely to working to working frequently when I upgraded my Watch from a Series 3 to a Series 4 but slowly started working less and less frequently.
It’s the same story with my AirPods. They used to connect all the time and then I gradually had issues. They won’t connect to my Mac at all anymore. Restarts don’t help and I even reset the AirPods, nothing.
I wonder if the issues for the AirPods and unlocking with Apple Watch are related.
I use my MacBook daily, and it almost always unlocks, sometimes faster than others. That disappoints because when it works as I think it's supposed to, it's very fast.
My iMac gets much less use, sometimes only once a week. My Watch has unlocked it twice, out of 20 times. And unfortunately, I don't know if this a feature or a bug.
This may be like the 'security layer' of the iPhone requiring your password to entered instead of using TouchID. Apple is less than forthcoming about a lot of it's supporting documentation, and I haven't see any time-out mentions for the Watch to Mac functionality from tech pundants.
One thing to note is that a lot of Wi-Fi routers and other network devices cause problems for Apple's device discovery technology (Bonjour). I'm not sure if this is the cause of the AW unlocking problems some people are experiencing, but I know I'm always weary of Wi-Fi routers being the source of any networking problems I'm having (just don't trust the companies manufacturing them to have attention to detail).