How to Set up Touch ID on Your New MacBook

The MacBook Pro and MacBook Air both offer Touch ID. Learn how to set it up and enter additional fingerprints.

By Amy Spitzfaden–Both Updated 02/24/2021

* This post is part of iPhone Life's Tip of the Day newsletter. . *

Touch ID allows you to unlock your computer using your fingerprint, creating an additional level of security for your device. You may be familiar with Touch ID on your iPhone or iPad, but it is also available on the MacBook Pro and MacBook air. Here is how to create a MacBook fingerprint for your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air Touch ID.

When you first set up your new computer, you will have the option when you boot it up for the first time to set up Touch ID. If you choose to do it then, the steps are the same when you enter a Fingerprint as listed below, but you will also have the option to set it up later. The following steps are for if you choose to set it up later, or if you want to add another fingerprint. For more Mac tips, check out our free Tip of the Day.

Related: How to Lock Apps on Your iPhone & iPad with Touch ID

  1. Click on the Apple icon to open your Apple menu.

  2. Click System Preferences.

  3. Click Touch ID.

  4. Click Add Fingerprint.

  5. Enter your computer's password (not your Apple ID), then press your finger several times on the Touch ID button (located at the top right of your keyboard).

  6. At a certain point you'll be prompted to touch the edge of your finger to the button.

  7. Tap Done.

  8. Back at the Touch ID screen, make sure everything you want to use Touch ID for is checked.

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Topics

How-To
Face ID & Touch ID
Privacy & Security

Author Details

Amy Spitzfaden–Both's picture

Author Details

Amy Spitzfaden–Both

Amy Spitzfaden Both is a Feature Writer at iPhone Life, an award-winning novelist, and an iPhone enthusiast. Over the past decade, her work in the publishing industry has included live coverage of industry events including the Yale Publishing Course and Magazine Innovation’s ACT 9 Experience, providing editing services for several start-up publishing houses, and acting as newsstand consultant for magazines such as The Old Farmer’s Almanac and The New York Review of Books. She graduated from M.I.U. with a Bachelor’s in Literature and Writing, and has gone on to publish two novels and two short stories. Her debut novel Untold won the 2014 Chelson Award for Fiction.
Writing everything from book reviews to skincare tips, Amy discovered a passion for bringing exciting and useful information to even the most casual researcher. The mix of usability and endless possibilities is what drew her to Apple products originally, and the more she learns, the more she loves.
Amy lives in New Hampshire with her husband and daughter. When she’s not writing or glued to her iPhone, she enjoys hiking, traveling, and creating her own tea blends.