iOS 14.5 Will Let iPhone Users Unlock Their Devices With The Apple Watch

We expect that for the foreseeable future, we will all still be wearing masks in public. This in turn makes features like Face ID a bit annoying to use. Apple has made some changes where if it detects a mask, users will be prompted to enter their PIN instead, but it’s still quite a hassle for a feature that’s meant to be hassle-free.

The good news is that if you own an Apple Watch, the upcoming iOS 14.5 update could be worth looking forward to. This is because it has been discovered that in the upcoming update, if the iPhone detects that the user is wearing a mask, as long as they have their Apple Watch paired and authenticated, the iPhone will unlock after doing a partial facial scan.

Users will then be notified on their watch via a haptic buzz that informs them that the unlocking procedure has been successful. However, it should be noted that this feature is opt-in, meaning that it will not be enabled by default and users will have to turn it on manually. Also, it only works to unlock the phone, and that things like App Store purchases or using Apple Pay will require a full facial scan or using a passcode.

That being said, this will be kind of limited in terms of usefulness as not all iPhone users necessarily own an Apple Watch. However, it does give those who do options, so it might still come in handy.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones, Gadgets
Tags: Apple Watch, face id, iOS, ios 14, iPhone, Security, Smartwatch, Wearable Tech