This works in a similar way to the previous one, but rather than just lock your Mac, it powers down the hard drive, puts the CPU into low-power mode, and stops background tasks to save energy. You can also use a keyboard shortcut to put your Mac to sleep. This will lock your Mac and return you to the Login screen.įor older versions of the operating system, press Control+Shift+Power button (or Control+Shift+Eject if your Mac has an optical drive). If you’re using a Mac that’s running the latest macOS version, go to the Apple menu and choose Lock Screen or press Command+Control+Q. If you want your Mac to remain locked even when you’re close by and have an Apple Watch, go to System Settings > Touch ID & Passwords and find the Apple Watch section on the right. This will display the login screen for your account and won’t unlock with a password (unless you’re wearing an Apple Watch when you do it, and then it will lock and unlock immediately). So here are some other ways you can lock your Mac’s display. And, in any case, if you have an iMac, Mac mini, or Mac Pro, it’s not an option. However, there are occasions when you want to prevent anyone from seeing the screen without actually closing it.

When you do that, the Mac goes to sleep, and when you open it again, you’ll need to unlock it. If you have a MacBook, a MacBook Air, or a MacBook Pro, the quickest and easiest way to lock your Mac is just to shut the lid. Now, whenever your Mac goes to sleep or a screensaver starts, it will lock, and you’ll have to authenticate with your user password, Apple Watch, or TouchID to gain access. Find the option that starts with Require password….Open System Settings either by clicking on its icon in the Dock or by choosing it from the Apple menu.How to set up a password to lock the screen So, in order to lock your screen, you need to set up the password in System Settings. However, if you put it to sleep, you won’t necessarily lock it.

If you lock your Mac, you’ll put it to sleep and need to type in your login password on your Mac’s lock screen or unlock it with TouchID on a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar or with an Apple Watch. Before we show them to you, however, it’s important to make the distinction between locking your screen and just putting it to sleep. There are several different ways to lock or sleep your screen in macOS. But to help you do it all by yourself, we’ve gathered our best ideas and solutions below.įeatures described in this article refer to the MacPaw site version of CleanMyMac X. So here’s a tip for you: Download CleanMyMac to quickly solve some of the issues mentioned in this article.

Shortcut mac lock screen