Guide
How to unlock your Mac with your face
macOS has no built-in face unlock, but the camera above your screen can still do the job. Here’s how to set it up in a few minutes, how the scan works, and how to make it fast and reliable.
If you use an iPhone, glancing at your Mac and waiting for the password field feels a little old-fashioned. Touch ID helps, but you still have to reach for the key. The good news: your Mac’s regular camera is enough to recognize your face and get you in, hands-free.
Why macOS doesn’t unlock with your face
Face ID on iPhone uses a TrueDepth camera that builds a 3D map of your face. Mac cameras are regular 2D cameras, and macOS doesn’t offer a built-in face login at the time of writing. On a Mac you’d normally unlock with your password, Touch ID or an Apple Watch.
A face unlock app fills that gap. Visage recognizes you with the camera, checks that it’s a live face, and then types your Mac password on the lock screen for you, so you get in without touching the keyboard.
What you need
- A Mac running macOS 15 Sequoia or later, Apple Silicon or Intel.
- A camera: the built-in one or an external webcam.
- Your Mac login password (Visage stores it encrypted, behind Touch ID or your password).
- Two permissions: Camera, to see your face, and Accessibility, to type your password on the lock screen.
Set up face unlock on your Mac
- Install Visage. Open the download and drag Visage into your Applications folder. Always open it from Applications, because macOS ties permissions to that copy.
- Grant permissions. The setup opens right in your Mac’s notch. Click Grant for Accessibility and Camera, and switch Visage on in System Settings when asked.
- Read the security notice. A regular webcam can’t see depth, so Visage is a convenience rather than a replacement for Touch ID. It’s worth understanding before you continue. There’s more on that in Is face unlock on a Mac safe?
- Enroll your face. Look straight at the camera, then turn your head slightly in nine directions as the ring around the preview fills in. It takes about a minute.
- Enter your Mac password once. It’s encrypted on your Mac and only used to unlock the lock screen after your face matches.
- Choose when to scan. In Settings → General, pick any mix of triggers: when your Mac wakes, when it locks, or when you press space on the lock screen.
Visage lives in the menu bar. You can reopen Settings from there at any time to add another face, change the animation or adjust recognition.
How the unlock works
When a trigger fires, the notch expands and Visage starts looking. Each camera frame is turned into a 512-number face embedding (a mathematical fingerprint) and compared with the faces you enrolled. The image itself is thrown away.
If an enrolled face matches and the liveness checks agree it’s a real person, the notch shows a checkmark and Visage types your password. If nothing matches within the time you set, it quietly closes and you can unlock the usual way.
Tips for faster, more reliable unlocks
Light your face
A camera needs to see your face clearly. A lamp in front of you works far better than a bright window behind you.
Enroll more than one look
Wear glasses some days? Enroll a second identity with them on. The same helps for very different lighting at home and at work.
Tune recognition
- Detection distance: choose Far if you sit back from the screen, Close if bystanders are often nearby.
- Match confidence: More strict is safer, Less strict is more forgiving.
- Face detection duration: from 3 to 10 seconds. Longer gives you more time to look up.
- Retry on notch hover: move the pointer over the notch to scan again.
Troubleshooting
Accessibility still shows as not granted
This usually means the switch in System Settings belongs to a different copy of the app. Quit Visage, make sure you open the copy in Applications (not the one inside the download), then turn the switch off and on again.
“Not recognized” every time
Check your lighting first, then recapture your face in Settings → Your Face. If you changed your look a lot, add a new identity instead.
The scan doesn’t start
Make sure Enable Face Unlock is on and at least one trigger is selected in Settings → General.
FAQ
Can I unlock my Mac with my face?
Not with macOS alone, but an app like Visage uses your camera to recognize you on the lock screen and then enters your stored password for you.
Does it work on Macs without a notch?
Yes. On Macs without a notch, the animation appears as a floating pill at the top of the screen.
Does it work with an external monitor?
Yes. You can choose one camera for the built-in display and another for an external display.
Does Visage send my face anywhere?
No. Recognition runs on your Mac, camera frames are never saved, and Visage makes no network requests.