Apple might let you unlock your Mac with an iPhone and Touch ID

Apple is working on an OS X feature that would allow Mac computers to be unlocked using an iPhone's fingerprint reader and Touch ID, according to a report from MacRumors. This auto-unlock feature may be included in the next big Mac OS refresh, which is set to be previewed in June at Apple's WWDC and would arrive this fall for consumers. It would rely on Bluetooth LE, similar to how unlocking the iPhone can unlock the Apple Watch without asking you to input a passcode on the watch screen.

The feature sounds an awful lot like Knock, a Mac app that lets you use either your phone or Apple Watch to unlock your Mac. That software works by having you install an app on your computer, input your password there, and then gesture on either the phone or watch screen to initiate the unlock. Apple's solution may be more streamlined, alleviating the need to install an app and most likely making it an option in the settings panel of the iPhone or Apple Watch. Releasing this type of feature would also remove the need to install biometric identifiers directly within Mac computers, as Windows PC makers have done.

Apple's auto-unlock feature sounds an awful lot like Knock

MacRumors also says the unlock feature could be tied to an Apple Pay integration for web browsers, also a rumored feature of OS X 10.12. That would let you pay for items on the web by simply confirming the purchase with your fingerprint on the iPhone. Apple's next OS update is said to bring Siri to the Mac too, opening up possibilities for letting Apple's digital assistant make these types of online purchases as well.

• SourceMacRumors