Apple’s iOS 14.5 beta is out, and with it comes the ability for your Apple Watch to unlock your Face ID protected phone if you’re wearing a mask. If you really want this feature right now, you’ll need to download the latest iOS and watchOS betas – something that involves at least some risk, as it’s unfinished software. There are bugs and features may change between updates. There have been reports in the past clocks bricked by betas (but I couldn’t find anything for this version).
With all that said, I’ve been using the betas since they came out and I haven’t noticed anything particularly erratic. So if you want to be wary of headwinds to access the new Apple Watch unlock feature, here’s how to get betas.
First, start by going to: beta.apple.com on your iPhone. If you have not participated in a public beta before, you must click on the sign up button and if you have joined you can tap on the sign in button.
After logging in, tap the down arrow in the header and go to Enroll Your Devices. I highly recommend following Apple’s advice to make an archived backup of your device, as iCloud backups are not necessarily inaccessible should you ever need to revert from a beta. Apple explains how to create one on the Signup page. Keep it up, I’ll be here when you get back.
After backing up your device you can scroll down and tap on Download profile button; your phone notifies you that you need to review the profile before it loads.
Before we do that, let’s get the watch’s profile by scrolling to the top and selecting WatchOS from the list. There, you can tap the Download profile button and then hit Allow.
This will automatically open the Watch app where you can hit Install. This will restart your watch, at this time, let’s go to Settings and load the profile of the phone, then Profile Downloaded.
There, you can tap the Install button and your phone will reboot.
After downloading the profiles and restarting your devices, you need to update your phone first, then your watch. Unfortunately, you have to wait for the phone to update before operating the clock, so you can’t multitask.
Officially running iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4, we can finally enable tracking unlocking.
Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode and go to Unlock with the new Apple Watch. Turning it on will turn on the feature, there is nothing you need to do on the watch.
Now that you have it installed, here’s what you’ve been waiting for. The first and most important point to note is that your phone your masked face looking a face with mask. With this feature turned on, if my wife was wearing a mask, she was able to unlock my phone without a problem when I was within three feet of her.
Apple’s reduction of this will notify you when your Apple Watch is used to unlock your phone with a notification that your phone has been unlocked and a button to lock it. Pressing this lock button immediately locks your phone and requires a password the next time it unlocks.
By removing this warning, I’ve had great success with this feature so far. I tried with various masks and they all worked for me. It should also be noted that a masked face is still being sought. This feature won’t help you when your phone is on the table and you want to unlock it without the Face ID camera seeing you.
Still, not having to enter my password every time I want to check my shopping list while shopping is a huge plus for me and worth what I consider to be the relatively minor security trade-offs. This feature may not be for those with top secret information on their phone, but it will be a nice quality of life improvement for everyone else, whether you decide to use it now or wait for the official release.