Magic Keyboard With Touch ID Compatible With All M1 Macs, But Only Sold With iMac For Now

Tuesday April 20, 2021 2:57 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

Alongside the redesigned iMac, Apple introduced a new Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for fingerprint authentication, which is useful for quickly logging into macOS or confirming an Apple Pay purchase online.

touch id magic keyboard for imac
As first noted by Rene Ritchie and confirmed by MacRumors, the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID is fully compatible with all M1 Macs, including the new iMac, 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini. If used with Intel-based Macs or other Bluetooth devices, the Magic Keyboard will still function with the exception of Touch ID.

While the new Magic Keyboard is compatible with all M1 Macs, it will only be available with the new iMac, at least initially. The new iMac can be configured with one of three different Magic Keyboards, including a standard version with Touch ID, a standard version without Touch ID, and an extended version with Touch ID and a numeric keypad.

Apple has made some previously iMac-exclusive accessories available to purchase separately at a later date in the past. When the iMac Pro launched in December 2017, for example, Space Gray versions of the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad were only available with the iMac Pro, but became available separately in March 2018.

The new iMac with the new Magic Keyboard can be ordered starting April 30 and will be available in the second half of May.

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Tags: Magic Keyboard, M1 Guide

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Top Rated Comments

Kylo83

32 months ago

No backlight no sale

Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Apple_Robert

Darn. I was hoping I could use one with my 2018 Mac mini.

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

LogicalApex

Weird limitation. I thought they would have drawn the line on any Mac with a Secure Enclave, but seems odd to limit it only to M1 Macs. Especially since Intel Macs like my 2018 MBP support Touch ID.

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

quagmire

ugh, no extended keyboard format!

There is one with a numeric keypad. There are three keyboard configs:

1. With the lock key instead of Touch ID.

2. With Touch ID.

3. With numeric keypad and Touch ID.

Anyway.... Not unexpected, but wish Intel Macs with the T2 would have been compatible with it too.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

locrumo

TouchId is back.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)