Pavel Jelic If you're one of our loyal readers, you most likely own at least one product from the Apple company - and I bet it's the iPhone. If you have a larger portfolio of your apple products, you probably also own a Mac or MacBook and possibly an Apple Watch along with an iPhone. If you own the last two mentioned products, you surely know that you can unlock macOS devices with the help of Apple Watch. But let's face it, this function often doesn't work as it should.
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You may have already wondered if it would not be possible to use the iPhone in the event of a non-functioning unlocking of the Mac with the Apple Watch. In addition, not everyone owns an Apple Watch, so the same idea could occur to this group of users. The answer to this idea is practically very simple - there is no official solution from Apple that facilitates unlocking macOS devices using an iPhone. But that certainly doesn't mean there aren't third-party solutions. Personally, I have been using the application for several months Close Lock, thanks to which the unlocking of the Mac or MacBook can be activated using the iPhone. Although I also own an Apple Watch, with which I try to unlock the MacBook, it must be noted that I often fail. However, in the case of Near Lock, so far I have probably never once encountered that unlocking with an iPhone through this application would not work. So let's take a closer look at the Near Lock app together in this article.
At the outset, I can assure you that Near Lock is available absolutely free. However, you can purchase the full version for 99 crowns, but if you are among ordinary users and do not need to have, for example, Wi-Fi unlocking (see below), then you the classic free version will certainly suffice. In order to use the Near Lock application, you must have it installed on both your iPhone and your Mac or MacBook. After installation it is necessary connect both devices via Bluetooth – the guide in the application on the iPhone will help you with this. Once connected, you can start setting up the entire application on your Mac. It should be noted that Near Lock works almost immediately without further settings, but in this case I definitely recommend that you go through the settings and set everything according to your preferences. Near Lock available even on the Apple Watch – in this case, however, I recommend that you disable the native system unlock option in macOS.
Near Lock can unlock your Mac with your iPhone especially if it detects that it is in immediate vicinity. However, you can easily set this distance directly in the application - just click on the box Setup. Here you are slider you set that distance, along with automatic options for unlocking or locking your macOS device. There are also other options for faster or more secure unlocking - for example necessity authorization using Face ID, or displaying a classic notification, on which you confirm whether you want to unlock your Mac or not. There is also a column in the settings Wi-Fi Unlock. This feature is available as I mentioned above, only in the paid version. It offers the ability to unlock macOS devices when both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network. To increase safety, you in the section Login photos you can set it to always she created a photo after unlocking using your Mac's camera. Furthermore, there are other extended functions that are not so interesting anymore - for example pausing music on login.
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If you want to unlock your Mac or MacBook using your iPhone, either because the official Apple Watch unlocking method doesn't work for you, or you simply don't own an Apple Watch, it's Near Lock is the perfect choice. There are also other applications available in the App Store for unlocking macOS devices using an iPhone, but Near Lock has proven to be the most effective for me. For proper function, it is of course necessary to use the free version of Near Lock on Mac ran in the background, which is definitely not an obstacle. Don't forget to also set it to Near Lock automatically launched after login or turning on macOS. You can achieve this by Dock tap the icon Near Lock right click, then scroll to the option Elections a you check possibility Open when logged in.
I always had a problem with both this and the similar Unlox application, that after some time the applications on the phone and on the Mac simply stopped communicating with each other, although they could not see each other. It should be noted that I last tried Near Lock 3/4 year ago. Otherwise, the idea is great, but then I'm disappointed in the file.
Personally, I have been using Near Lock for about half a year now and I must say that everything is fine. When unlocking, the screen on my Mac just flashes here and there and such "artifacts" pop up, but that's a matter of about three seconds. Then everything is normal.
However, there is one major difference compared to unlocking with the Apple Watch.
I can log into OSX with my AppleWatch, ie. that I turn on the Mac and use the watch to log in.
Not with this app. It can unlock an already booted and only locked Mac.
And one more thing. You have to enter your password there!!! Not that I'm paranoid, but...
I practically never turn off my MacBook, I just close it, so it's not a burden for me personally. Otherwise, it's been about half a year since I installed Near Lock, but if my memory serves me correctly, I didn't write the password anywhere in the application. At most, to a dialog box where it was requested by macOS itself and not by the application. So in this case I would definitely not be worried.