How to Unlock Your Apple Watch With Your iPhone

Updated September 24, 2023

Even if you don’t use it frequently, there’s no good reason not to set up Unlock with iPhone. Here’s how to set it up.

If you’re like most people, you probably have a passcode assigned to your Apple Watch to prevent prying eyes and provide security for your information. If you use Apple Pay, that’s another huge reason to secure your Apple Watch.

How to Unlock Your Apple Watch With Your iPhone

Overview

The Apple Watch defaults to a simple four-digit passcode, which is not very secure. Did you know you can set an Apple Watch passcode that’s up to 10-digits long? I know you probably think it would be inconvenient to enter a 10-digit passcode on the small Apple Watch screen. But you don’t have to sacrifice security for convenience. Did you know that you can unlock your Apple Watch using your iPhone?

Here’s how you do it:

Set Up

If you don’t plan on setting up a long passcode on your Apple Watch, you can skip that part, but I suggest that you do utilize this functionality. A four-digit passcode affords enough security for keeping the casual person from looking at the contents of your watch, but it’s insufficient for a more determined snoop. Longer passwords are always better for security but are certainly less convenient.

Open Watch from your iPhone’s Home screen, then Passcode > Simple Passcode. Toggle the switch to off. As soon as you toggle the switch off, you will be instructed to first enter the current Passcode on your Apple Watch. After you enter the current Passcode, your iPhone will tell you to enter your new long Passcode on your Apple Watch twice. It’s that simple.

To activate the Unlock with iPhone feature: From the same Passcode screen, enable the toggle by sliding it to the right. Immediately a screen that tells you to enter your Passcode on your Apple Watch will appear. When the code is entered correctly on your Apple Watch, your iPhone will return to the Passcode screen with the Unlock with iPhone toggle showing that it is on. That’s all it takes to do it.

Usage

Once Unlock with iPhone is activated, it couldn’t be much easier to unlock your Apple Watch. If your iPhone has Face ID, all you have to do is raise your iPhone to unlock it. When the padlock on your iPhone screen unlocks, your Apple Watch will unlock simultaneously. It is important to note that if your iPhone were already unlocked when you put on your Apple Watch, you would need to lock and unlock it for it to have the desired effect on your Apple Watch.

Another important point to keep in mind is that for the Unlock with iPhone feature to work, you must have Wrist Detection enabled, and your iPhone needs to be within Bluetooth range of your Apple Watch, which is approximately 33 feet.

Conclusion

Even if you don’t use it frequently, there’s no good reason not to set up Unlock with iPhone; it gives you the option to use your iPhone for unlocking when it’s convenient to do so. But you certainly don’t have to use it as your only method of unlocking your iPhone. Also, please consider a more secure password for your Apple Watch, which will keep you safer.

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