Closing your MacBook hardware disconnects microphone, safety/privacy feature

Re:Closing your MacBook hardware disconnects microphone, saf... by macshome on Tuesday March 07, 2023 @07:30PM (#35063520)

Your watch really shouldn’t be able to do that. The pairing uses p2p latency as a way to determine if you are actually close enough to your Mac to want to unlock it.

I’ve used it for years now with a variety of watches and Macs and I’ve always had to be right next to the computer with a fairly clear line of sight between them. Even putting my watch on the other side of my body is normally enough to make it tell me that the WiFi signal isn’t strong enough to unlock it.

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Re:Closing your MacBook hardware disconnects microphone, saf... by dumpsterdiver on Wednesday March 08, 2023 @12:32AM (#35065605)

To play devil's advocate, it would very easy to create custom rooms in which a detainee is held in a room against a paper wall (with their locked device on the other side of the paper wall). The orientation of their seating arrangement could be such that it always places the detainees watch closest to the device.

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Re:Closing your MacBook hardware disconnects microphone, saf... by danmur on Wednesday March 08, 2023 @01:28AM (#35065904)

I wonder if the algorithms are tuned for different cultures' wall materials

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Re:Closing your MacBook hardware disconnects microphone, saf... by larsnystrom on Wednesday March 08, 2023 @09:47AM (#35069565)

I have, like GP, been able to unlock a computer downstairs when I'm directly above it. So N=2.

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