Multi device linkage has always been a means for apple to show its ecological charm. Take my most commonly used function "unlocking MAC through apple watch" as an example. During wearing Apple watch, Mac can sense the proximity of Apple watch through Bluetooth and Wi Fi and automatically unlock the system. In addition, other requests requiring administrator password can also be approved by Apple watch.

However, with the release of the "unlock iPhone with apple watch" function in IOS 14.5, this situation is about to turn for the better.

Familiar experience

To experience "unlocking iPhone through apple watch", you need to meet the following conditions:

I ownFace IDMy iPhone

Apple watch series 3 or later

IPhone requires IOS 14.5 or later

Apple watch requires watchos 7.4 or later

When everything is ready, when the iPhone detects that your face is blocked (such as wearing a mask), it will automatically call the apple watch's unlock function. At this time, apple watch will give out a vibration prompt, and the text prompt of successful unlocking will be displayed on the screen. After a moment, the iPhone can be successfully unlocked.

From the current experience of the third developer beta, the experience of this feature has become perfect. In the previous version of the occasional slow unlock, unlock failure bug almost never encountered again, and the latest beta version of the unlock speed has also made great progress.

From our actual measurement and the test results of foreign media, the time to unlock the iPhone through apple watch is about 1-2 seconds, while the time to unlock the iPhone through face ID and touch ID is about 0.5 seconds. Although it is not as fast as face ID to unlock iPhone through apple watch, it is still a qualitative leap compared with manual password unlocking (about 3 seconds).

Unlocking the iPhone through apple watch is more convenient, but security and privacy concerns may be the reason Apple didn't launch the feature until today. Unlike Apple watch unlocking Mac,Unlocking the iPhone through apple watch can only realize the function of unlocking the device, and other approvals requiring password requests, such as Apple Store payment and device security settings verification, cannot be obtained through apple watch.

In addition, in order to ensure the privacy and security of the iPhone, you need to enter a password to complete additional security verification before you can continue to use the apple watch to unlock the iPhone function:

IPhone just started or restarted

IPhone has been locked for more than 48 hours

After iPhone is locked by Apple Watch

When the distance between iPhone and apple watch is long (the measured distance is about 3M)

When Apple watch is not unlocked

Q: If I'm wearing an apple watch and my phone is being held by someone else, can ta unlock my iPhone through this function?

A: Yes, because the criterion for Apple watch to unlock the iPhone is based on the distance (about 3 meters), in theory, as long as your iPhone is not too far away from the apple watch, others can also successfully unlock the phone. However, because the apple watch will give out a vibration prompt when unlocking, you can lock the phone again through the apple watch when you find that the phone is unlocked.

Q: Can I unlock the iPhone when the apple watch is not worn but unlocked?

A: Yes.

Q: Will this feature affect the battery life of Apple watch?

A: The impact is small. After testing, the battery life of Apple watch before and after opening is roughly the same.

Is the technology of ecology dazzled or forced by the situation?

It's not a new function to unlock mobile phones through wearable devices. Google launched the "smart lock" function in Android 5.0 many years ago, which can intelligently determine whether to enable the lock screen password according to the scene of the device (Wi Fi / Bluetooth / whether to connect other devices).

At the beginning of the birth of Apple watch, the outside world had full expectations for the function of unlocking iPhone through apple watch. However, as mentioned earlier, apple, which has always focused on privacy protection, is not in a hurry to launch this feature. Until the outbreak of the epidemic last year, the full screen iPhone, which only uses face recognition as a biometric recognition method, has been in a collective standstill. Although the subsequent system patches have optimized the password unlocking experience of such models, they still put the "advanced technology" of face ID, which Apple has been advocating, in a dilemma.

The belated "unlock iPhone through apple watch" function may be able to alleviate this embarrassing situation to a certain extent, but the premise of experiencing this function is to have an Appel watch. It remains to be seen how many people will buy Apple watch for this. But after the test of this epidemic, maybe it's time for apple to consider speeding up the progress of "Reviving" touch ID.