OS X 10.12 Could Allow Unlocking Via iPhone’s Touch ID

Touch ID is Apple’s way of securing iOS devices by using biometric security in the form of fingerprints to protect devices like the iPhone and iPad. It is also used to verify iTunes purchases, passwords managers, and Apple Pay, and soon it could even be used to unlock your Mac computer.

According to recent speculation, it has been suggested that Apple could be thinking of using Touch ID on your iPhone to help unlock your Mac computer in the upcoming OS X 10.12 build. This will supposedly rely on Bluetooth LE connectivity which we guess isn’t too surprising, kind of like how an iPhone can be used to unlock an Apple Watch.

This means that if you’d rather not have people see you type in your password to your Mac computer, then unlocking via fingerprint would no doubt be a useful feature. Of course the only downside here is that it requires users to own an iPhone as well, so if you own a Mac but own a smartphone of a different platform, we suppose you’d be out of luck.

In addition to unlocking your computer, this feature is also rumored to work with making purchases via Apple Pay in web browsers, and it could work in tandem with Siri. These are just speculated features of the upcoming OS X 10.12 update which we expect will be unveiled at WWDC 2016 next month, so remember to check back with us then for the details.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones, Computers
Tags: iPhone, OS X, Security, touch id