Stop typing your password all day: unlock your Mac with your fingerprint

Why it happens

Touch ID is built into the top-right key on most recent MacBooks and into the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, but your Mac only uses it once you've added a fingerprint and switched it on. Until then it keeps asking for your password. Your Mac doesn't offer a short PIN, so Touch ID or an Apple Watch is the quick way in.

How to fix it

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Touch ID & Password in the sidebar.

2. If no fingerprint is listed, click Add Fingerprint, type your password, and rest your finger on the Touch ID key again and again until the print fills in. Lift and move your finger a little each time.

   Touch ID & Password›Add Fingerprint

3. Turn on Use Touch ID to unlock your Mac. While you're there, you can also switch on Touch ID for purchases and autofilling passwords if you like.

   Touch ID & Password›Use Touch ID to unlock your Mac

4. Test it: press Control-Command-Q to lock the screen, then rest your finger on the Touch ID key. Your Mac should open without a password.

Still not fixed?

1. Expect to type your password once after every restart, and now and then during the day. That's a built-in safety rule, and Touch ID works again straight after.

2. If you don't see Touch ID & Password settings with a fingerprint option, your Mac has no Touch ID sensor. On a desktop Mac with Apple silicon, a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID adds one.

3. If you wear an Apple Watch, your Mac can open when you're wearing it. Turn your watch on under the Apple Watch section of the same page.

   Touch ID & Password›Apple Watch

4. If the sensor often fails to read you, make sure your finger and the key are clean and dry, then delete that fingerprint and add it again.

5. If Touch ID won't read any finger after re-adding it, or Add Fingerprint gives an error every time, contact Apple Support or a repair shop. The sensor may be faulty, which is a hardware problem.