Updated October 2026
Does MacBook Have Face ID?
No. As of October 2026 no Mac has Face ID — not the MacBook Air, the M5 MacBook Pro, the iMac, the Mac mini or the MacBook Neo. Macs unlock with Touch ID, an Apple Watch or your password. If you want to unlock by looking at your Mac anyway, a free app can do it with the camera you already have.
The notch isn't Face ID
The MacBook notch holds a FaceTime camera, not the TrueDepth infrared system that Face ID needs on iPhone and iPad Pro. There is no setting to turn on and no update that adds it — the hardware isn't there.
What Macs use instead
Touch ID on MacBooks and on the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, plus Unlock with Apple Watch. Your iPhone's Face ID can't unlock a Mac — there is no built-in way to hand that off.
Is Face ID coming to Mac?
Bloomberg has reported that Apple is working on moving Macs from Touch ID to Face ID, but that the change is still years away. Nothing announced so far includes it.
A free face-unlock workaround
Notchy's Face Unlock uses the built-in camera — or a USB webcam on a Mac mini, Mac Studio or a closed MacBook — to unlock when it sees your face. Recognition runs on your Mac with Apple's Vision framework, and your password stays in the Keychain.
Everything Notchy does, for free
- Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
- Command palette (⌃⌥K) — every action one keystroke away
- Knock — double-tap a modifier key to open the notch
- AI usage tracker (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot)
- Detach any tab into a menu-bar popover
- Now Playing music controls (Apple Music & Spotify)
- Time-synced karaoke lyrics under the notch
- Mac clipboard history shelf (password-manager safe)
- Searchable clipboard — filter by text, file name, or OCR'd words
- On-device OCR — copy a screenshot, get its text (Apple Vision)
- Window snapping — drag a window to the notch to tile it
- App Launcher — pin apps to the notch, open with one tap
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- Text snippets — TextExpander-style pastes from the ⌘K palette
- One-tap screen capture to clipboard + shelf
- Color eyedropper — sample any pixel, hex auto-copied
- System-wide mic mute for every meeting app at once
- Keystroke HUD for demos & screencasts (secure-input safe)
- Keyboard cleaning lock with countdown island (⌘⎋ unlocks)
- Menu-bar icon hiding — Bartender-style separator & chevron
- Live CPU / memory / network stats flyout
- Open GitHub PR count in the notch (Keychain-stored token)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Camera Guard — alert (or block) when any app opens your camera
- Caps Lock HUD — brief island on every toggle
- Full Charge island with adjustable threshold + low-battery sound
- Alt HUD styles — edge-pinned bar or circular gauge off the notch
- Audio-reactive Now Playing visualizer (real FFT of system audio)
- Custom closed-notch idle animation — drop in your own Lottie JSON
- Drag-and-drop file drop shelf — persists across relaunches
- Zip & unzip files right from the shelf
- Image converter (HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF) + video → GIF
- Run Apple Shortcuts with one tap
- Screenshots auto-staged on the shelf, ready to drag
- Download finished alerts with Reveal in Finder
- USB drive mount island with one-tap Eject
- Apple Reminders quick capture & due list
- macOS Pomodoro notch timer & stopwatch — streaks + 7-day chart
- Resizable expanded panel (width & height, live preview)
- System HUDs (volume, brightness, battery)
- Audio output switcher (speakers, AirPods, monitor)
- AirPods connection manager & battery
- Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad battery + low-battery alerts
- Quick notes & Calendar widgets
- Camera Mirror (check your appearance)
- Keep Awake (caffeine toggle)
- Teleprompter (Cuely) for Zoom calls
- Focus-aware alerts & native haptic feedback
- Lock screen widgets & hide-the-notch mode
- 134 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple silicon
Face ID on Mac — FAQ
Can you use Face ID on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?
No. No MacBook Air or MacBook Pro has Face ID, including the M4 and M5 models. They use Touch ID in the keyboard.
Does the Mac mini have Face ID?
No. The Mac mini has no camera of its own. Touch ID works through the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID; for unlocking by face, Notchy's Face Unlock works with a USB webcam.
How do I enable Face ID on my MacBook?
You can't — the hardware isn't there. Set up Touch ID in System Settings → Touch ID & Password instead, or install Notchy and choose Settings → Lock Screen → Set Up Face Unlock for webcam-based face unlock.
Can I unlock my Mac with my iPhone's Face ID?
Not with anything built into macOS. Apple Watch can unlock a Mac; an iPhone can't.
Is webcam face unlock as secure as Face ID?
No. A webcam can't measure depth the way Face ID's infrared sensor does, so a good enough photo or video might pass. Notchy's Face Unlock is a convenience feature — keep your password and Touch ID for anything sensitive. macOS still asks for your password after every restart.
Does Notchy's Face Unlock work on Intel Macs?
Yes. Notchy runs from macOS 13 Ventura on Intel and Apple silicon, and Face Unlock is free like the rest of the app.