SOh, you’ve heard of a new feature that will allow you to unlock your iPhone while wearing a mask and want to. (Who could blame you ?!) The good news is that you can access it with a public beta that is now available. The bad news is that you’ll have to jump through a few circles before you can use it. You will also need an Apple Watch, and your smartwatch will need to be on your wrist, unlocked and password protected. Oh, and loaded.
Do you have all this? Good.
The first thing you need to do is download the latest public beta updates for both your watch and iPhone, so iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4. (Make sure your devices are backed up only if something strange happens during the process.) You’ll also be asked to provide your Apple ID password, so you have it handy. Then head to beta.apple.com in Safari on iPhone and select You start. From this page, you will be able to select which public beta programs you are interested in downloading. Select iOS file and scroll down to where it says register your iOS device and select this option. Then scroll down and click blue Download the profile button. You will then see a series of prompts for installing the public beta profile.
Once you have completed this process, go to Settings, Select Generaland click Software update. Here you should now see an option Download and install the public beta of iOS 14.5. Follow the instructions to install the update, have a sip of water, and then get ready to install the clock update. Keep in mind that your watch will need a charger and will require a battery life of at least 50%.
From the same beta landing page in Safari, click You start and then select watchOS option from the top menu. From this page, you should see a blue Download profile button-push it. Follow the instructions to download the public beta profile, then go to Watch the app. After the watch is connected to its charger and at least halfway through charging, navigate to the Watch app at General, then Software update, and select Installation under the public beta description watchOS 7.4.
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Once public beta profiles have been installed on both your watch and iPhone, you should be able to activate the feature that allows you to unlock your phone while wearing a mask. Go to your phone Settings, scroll down to Make ID and access code, and you should now see an option for Unlock with Apple Watch. Switch this feature enabled. Your Apple Watch should be buzzing now, as it unlocks your phone when you wear a mask, and the watch will display an option to lock your phone again. Unlocking is almost instantaneous and certainly much easier than entering the access code.
And that’s it, ready! It may have taken a minute to set up, but hopefully you’ll be free to snatch your mask or enter your password manually each time you must unlock your phone first.