Adding the Apple Watch to the ecosystem and pairing it with your Mac makes your workflow smoother and more convenient. From unlocking your MacBook to making purchases, there’s no shortage of features the Apple Watch provides that enhance your whole experience.
Here, we’ll discuss five unique ways you can use your Apple Watch and Mac together, but before that, you’ll need to meet some prerequisites.
Before You Use Your Apple Watch With a Mac
To use most of the Apple Watch’s features, you must keep these things in mind:
Your Apple Watch must be running watchOS 3 or above. Your Mac and Apple Watch must be using the same Apple ID. Your Mac should be in the vicinity of your Apple Watch.
1. Unlock Your Mac With Your Apple Watch
Unlocking your Mac with the Apple Watch is one of the most valuable features, especially for Macs that don’t have Touch ID. You must first set up a four-digit passcode on your Apple Watch with your iPhone to enable this.
Once your Apple Watch is password-protected, you’re ready to activate the unlock feature on your Mac. To do this, go to System Preferences > Security and Privacy section on your Mac.
Click General and check the Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac box. You’ll now be able to unlock your Mac and any app that requires login details with your Apple Watch.
To disable it, simply uncheck the box.
If the feature doesn’t work, you’ll have to update your Apple Watch to the latest watchOS and enable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your Mac and Apple Watch.
You also have to make sure that your Mac supports auto-unlock. To see if your Mac is compatible, press and hold the Option key and click the Apple icon in the menu bar. Select System Information in the drop-down menu.
In the sidebar, click Wi-Fi. Under the Interface section, check if Auto Unlock is supported or not. According to Apple, any Mac from mid-2013 or later supports this feature.
2. Authenticate Apps With Apple Watch
After allowing your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac, you’ll also be able to use it to authenticate your Mac apps. When you’re downloading an app on your Mac, you’ll see an approval request on your Apple Watch. To authenticate it, all you have to do is press the side button on your watch twice.
You’ll receive similar approval requests when apps on your Mac require permission to perform certain tasks, such as viewing passwords, logging in with saved account details, and unlocking notes.
You can also download an authenticator app such as Authy on your Mac and Apple Watch to store your 2FA codes on the wearable. The data syncs across all your Apple devices (as long as they use the same iCloud account). You can confirm your identity on your Apple Watch to generate a one-time password (OTP) required to log in to an app on your Mac.
3. Change Audio With Apple Watch
Using the Remote app on your Apple Watch, you can connect it to your iTunes library on Mac. Open the Remote app on your Apple Watch and tap Add Device. You’ll see a four-digit number on the screen.
Without closing the Remote app on Apple Watch, open the Music app on your Mac, and under the Devices section in the sidebar, you’ll see the name of your Apple Watch. If not, ensure you haven’t closed the Remote app on your Apple Watch and can still see the four-digit number on it.
Type in the code you see on your Apple Watch, and iTunes will confirm that your Apple Watch is connected to it, and you can now control your music with the watch. With your Apple Watch, you can adjust the volume, play, pause, and change the songs.
You can also control Spotify on your Mac by downloading the native Spotify app on your Apple Watch. On the Spotify app, you can do almost everything you would do on the desktop version, including liking songs, enabling shuffle, putting songs on repeat, and accessing your entire library. You can also download Spotify music directly on your Apple Watch.
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to control the Podcasts app on Mac with the Apple Watch just yet.
4. Control Keynote Presentations With Apple Watch
You need to download the Keynote app on your Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch for this method to work. Once you’ve downloaded the app on all three devices, launch it on your Mac and turn on Remotes in the settings.
Enable the remote feature on your iPhone and select it in the list of devices that appear in the Remotes section on your Mac. A four-digit code will appear on both devices. Click Confirm.
After creating your Keynote presentation, open it on your Mac. Now when you open Keynote on your Apple Watch and tap the play button, you’ll be able to change the slides with it.
Alternatively, if you’re willing to spend some money, you can purchase an app called Mobile Mouse to control both music and presentations, though not at the same time.
5. Make Apple Pay Payments on Mac
You can also use your Apple Watch to make payments on your Mac. When you purchase something via Safari on Mac with Apple Pay, it’ll give you the option to pay with Apple Watch.
If you don’t see it, chances are that the site doesn’t support Apple Watch payments. When you see the option, press the side button on your Apple Watch twice to make the payment.
This feature will be enabled by default as long as your Apple Watch and Mac are nearby and using the same Apple ID. You can disable it using the Watch app on your iPhone—open the settings for Apple Wallet in the Watch app and turn off the notifications.
Control Your Mac From Your Wrist
The Apple Watch is an excellent device that truly optimizes your Apple experience. You can use it to control your Mac remotely in several ways—from unlocking it to controlling your Keynote presentations.
Considering how popular it is among the Apple community, there’s no doubt that Apple will continue to introduce more exciting features. Even as a standalone device, the Apple Watch is a powerful smartwatch that’s packed with valuable features.
