The popular MacID app for iOS and OS X has received an update on Friday that adds support for new features in the newly-released watchOS 2.2 and iOS 9.3 firmware.
MacID has been made popular for its ability to unlock Mac computers with Touch ID or from an interactive notification on the wrist of the app’s user by way of their Apple Watch, rather than having to type a pasword to unlock the Mac from a sleep.
Version 1.3.3 of MacID is now available in the App Store for iOS devices and Apple Watches, and version 1.3.3 of MacID for the Mac is available from the developer’s website.
MacID 1.3.3 launches for iOS and watchOS
The updated MacID app for Apple Watch and iOS devices is bringing with it some new features and improvements that users are going to love. Most notable is those running iOS 9.3 and watchOS 2.2 are now capable of using multiple Apple Watches with MacID to unlock their Mac.
Moreover, the update is much easier on the battery of your iOS device(s), letting the app run in the background with less of a power footprint. Also, for those using a Pebble instead of an Apple Watch, you will find that MacID is much more Pebble-friendly than the previous version.
A full change-log of version 1.3.3 with all of the new features, bug fixes, and improvements can be viewed below:
New stuff:
• Adds support for switching between multiple Apple Watches in iOS 9.3 and watchOS 2.2
• For Proximity Wake, MacID for iOS will automatically launch MacID for Pebble, and will automatically close it after you’ve unlocked your Mac from MacID for Pebble
• Adds support for Handoff from the MacID website to MacID for iOS (it may take a little while for your iOS device to cache the data it needs for this to start working)Fixed stuff:
• Improves battery usage
• Fixes an issue where the MacID Widget would crash when tapping on it while no devices are connected
• Fixes an issue where the MacID Widget could fail to load if no devices are paired
• Prevents an issue where a keychain permissions failure could stop MacID from automatically reconnecting
• Stops the “Please update MacID for OS X” notification from firing more than once every 6 hours, sorry if that annoyed you
• Significantly improves the reliability of battery and WiFi information in the MacID Glance
• Improves reliability of the MacID Complication
• Fixes an issue where the Connected Devices section could crash when trying to access a Mac that is no longer connected
• Fixes an issue where launching MacID for iOS from a URL scheme with an unexpected number of URL components would cause the app to hang
• Fixes an issue where opening MacID for iOS from a Proximity Wake notification wouldn’t do anything
• Long-touching on audio controls to switch to volume controls now has the same animation as 1.3.1
• Prevents double-tap on Recent Devices
• Fixes a typo in the hints
What’s new in MacID 1.3.3 for OS X?
Not only has an update for iOS and watchOS been launched in the App Store, but the app you install on your Mac to compliment the experience has also received an update to version 1.3.3 on Friday.
This update makes keeping connections with your iOS device(s) more reliable and prevents them from disconnecting unexpectedly; this was a problem users were reporting after installing the previous version of MacID. When Bluetooth connections fail, MacID will now automatically attempt to re-connect them at least one time per hour.
Other new features and improvements are listed in the full change log, which we’ve included for you below:
• Focuses on improving re-connections
• Fixes an issue where launching MacID while Spotify or iTunes is running and paused would still cause the track name to be sent to MacID for iOS
• Moves the Auto-lock disabled reason to the main menu
• Auto-lock disabled reason now shows if it’s disabled because you’ve set it to be ‘limited to power adapter only’ and you’re on battery, and vice-versa.
• Auto-lock disabled reason will only show if you have Auto-lock enabled
• Adds an option to completely hide MacID from the Dock and Menu Bar. After hiding MacID you’ll need to click the MacID app icon again to get it back
• Adds an option to set a keyboard shortcut to completely hide MacID
• Improves password entry reliability
• Pressing play or pause on MacID for iOS while the screen is locked will wake the screen to play/pause and then automatically send the screen back to sleep
• Fixes some nasty memory leaks
• Fixes an issue where moving the MacID menu from the Dock to the Menu Bar would fail
• Reduces the amount of random connections when Bluetooth briefly wakes up while the lid is closed. Unfortunately there are times when the system reports that the screen is awake even when the lid is closed so MacID will send you an unlock request. I know this is annoying so I’m continually looking into a way to work around this
• Adds automatic relaunching for some Bluetooth errors (MacID will only automatically relaunch once an hour in case it gets into a loop)
• Adds some logging to the console so you have a better idea of what’s happening when something goes wrong with Bluetooth, etc.
Wrapping up
If you’re a MacID user already, then the updates are going to be available to you for free. Just visit the Updates tab in your App Store app on your iOS device, and use the Updates > Check for update… option from the MacID Menu Bar icon to update your Mac app.
For those who’ve never used the MacID app before, it’s something I would highly recommend trying out. You can download the App Store app for $3.99 and the Mac app for free.
Also read: How to fix common Bluetooth problems on your Mac
Have you tried MacID on your devices yet? Share in the comments!