Apple Watch Can Display Apple ID Verification Codes Starting in watchOS 6

Starting in watchOS 6, the Apple Watch has become a trusted device for Apple ID authentication purposes.

apple watch apple id verification code watchos 6
When you or someone else signs in to your ‌Apple ID‌ on a new device or browser, the Apple Watch will automatically alert you, complete with an approximate location of the person. If the sign-in attempt is allowed, a six-digit verification code will then appear to be entered on the new device or browser.


This functionality has been available on iPhones and iPads since iOS 9, and on Macs since OS X El Capitan, for ‌Apple ID‌ accounts with two-factor authentication enabled. Now, users simply have one more option in the Apple Watch.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)

Popular Stories

Touchscreen MacBook Feature

Apple Is Expected to Launch These Four MacBooks in 2026

Friday January 9, 2026 8:17 am PST by
2026 could be a bumper year for Apple's Mac lineup, with the company expected to announce as many as four separate MacBook launches. Rumors suggest Apple will court both ends of the consumer spectrum, with more affordable options for students and feature-rich premium lines for users that seek the highest specifications from a laptop. Below is a breakdown of what we're expecting over the next ...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

10 Reasons to Wait for This Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday January 8, 2026 2:56 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
proposed unicode emoji 18%402x

Squinting Face, Pickle, and Lighthouse Among New Emoji Coming to iOS

Friday January 9, 2026 4:24 am PST by
The Unicode Consortium has published a draft list of emoji that could come to smartphones and other devices in the future. The list shared by Emojipedia outlines 19 emoji candidates under consideration for Emoji 18.0, which is expected to be finalized in September 2026. Among the proposed additions are a squinting face emoji, left- and right-pointing thumb gestures, a pickle, a lighthouse, a ...
apple homekit ios 18 5

Apple Reminding Users of Pending Home App Upgrade Requirement

Friday January 9, 2026 10:08 am PST by
Back in late 2022 and early 2023, Apple rolled out a new architecture for its Apple Home platform to deliver improved performance and compatibility, although the rollout came with some hiccups that forced Apple to pull and later re-release the upgrade. Three years later, Apple is now on the verge of ending support for the old version of the Home architecture, which may result in access to...
grok logo purple gradient

U.S. Senators Ask Apple and Google to Remove X and Grok Apps Over Sexualized Image Generation

Friday January 9, 2026 9:43 am PST by
In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, Ben Ray Lujan, and Edward Markey have requested that Apple and Google remove X Corp's X and Grok apps from their app stores over recent incidents of "mass generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children." X has come under fire over the past week amid reports of Grok's AI image...
iOS 26 Glass Feature

iOS 26 Shows Unusually Slow Adoption Months After Release

Thursday January 8, 2026 3:44 pm PST by
iOS 26 is showing unusually slow adoption among iPhone users months after release, according to third-party analytics. Usage data published by StatCounter (via Cult of Mac) for January 2026 indicates that only around 15 to 16% of active iPhones worldwide are running any version of iOS 26. The breakdown shows iOS 26.1 accounting for approximately 10.6% of devices, iOS 26.2 for about 4.6%, and ...
iphone fold text

iPhone Fold to Pave Way for Thinner, Brighter Display on iPhone Air 2

Friday January 9, 2026 3:37 am PST by
The iPhone Fold will be the first Apple device to adopt a Samsung-made OLED technology called CoE (Color Filter on Encapsulation), which could make the display brighter and thinner than previous panels, reports The Elec. In a traditional OLED panel, a polarizing film sits above the display to cut reflections and improve contrast. The drawback is that this film also absorbs some of the OLED's ...

Top Rated Comments

BeyondtheTech Avatar
86 months ago
About friggin' time.

Will it also do parental approvals for family purchases?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PastaPrimav Avatar
86 months ago
It is unbelievable how annoying they've managed to make 2-factor authentication.

I have never ever once logged in as myself on a "foreign" machine that is not one that is owned by me and under my exclusive control, yet I'm forced to deal with Apple's 2-factor all the time. Seemingly every time I log in to my developer account or any Apple domain in Safari. "Trust" this browser? Yeah, my ass. Until the very next time I log in.

What we need is an authentication-free experience when we've sufficiently proven that we are in fact the person using the machine. Unlocking the Mac with Apple Watch should be the key. After that, I should not be forced to provide authentication of any kind, (unless I opt to enable app per app in settings).

It is absurd that they haven't taken the steps to embrace this more. Unlocking with Apple Watch is more than enough to prove that it is my sitting at the machine, and I shouldn't need to enter passwords anywhere, let alone deal with 2-factor.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PastaPrimav Avatar
86 months ago
This is a lot better than hitting “allow” on your phone and trying to memorize it.
OR even better....hitting Allow on the same Mac you're logging in on, that wants you to prove that it is you.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
konqerror Avatar
86 months ago

It is absurd that they haven't taken the steps to embrace this more. Unlocking with Apple Watch is more than enough to prove that it is my sitting at the machine, and I shouldn't need to enter passwords anywhere, let alone deal with 2-factor.
Yeah, Microsoft managed to do this far better for years now. You sign in once through Windows Hello and it handles native Windows sign-ins and Microsoft properties through Edge. The latest update of Windows 10 extends this to third-party sites via FIDO2. All TPM bound so it's like a dongle.

Apple is the only company who requires you to type in a stupid number, everybody else, Microsoft, Google, Duo, just have you press OK on the authentication notification.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
86 months ago
So I can pay for stuff with my Apple Watch without having to do anything and use it to unlock my Mac, but I have to punch in a code I read off my wrist? Why can't it just send a signal to my device to approve it? Better yet, why can't being on your Mac and signed into iCloud on a logged-in device (past the passcode/login screen) already be enough authorization to sign in to a website? I thought Apple was all about ease of use and having proprietary system integration in their apps. At the least it should work with Safari.

About friggin' time.

Will it also do parental approvals for family purchases?
Would also be great for approving/denying additional time on their iPad.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mobster1983 Avatar
86 months ago
OR even better....hitting Allow on the same Mac you're logging in on, that wants you to prove that it is you.
This is my favorite. And the code popping up in a separate window on the SAME device!!!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)