The Apple Watch Has A Really Clever Way Of Defeating Thieves

Apple

Apple chose to stay silent on some key topics about the Apple Watch during Tuesday's launch event. The battery life was skimmed over, and it wasn't clear what kind of security would be going into the device. But as technology reporters are getting to test out the Apple Watch, we're learning more about how it will work.

Mashable has reported on the clever way that the Apple Watch will prevent thieves from gaining access to your credit cards. The Apple Watch will include NFC payment using the Apple Pay system, meaning that customers can link their credit cards to their watch in order to pay for items by holding their watch near a special sensor.

That will make the watch a tempting target for thieves.

There have been questions over how secure the Apple Watch actually is, as it seems to have weaker security when compared to NFC payments on the iPhone 6. Customers need to hold their finger on the Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the new iPhone before paying for items.

Apple Watch has no such feature.

Luckily, Apple has come up with a clever way to make the new watch secure. As Mashable notes, it works using the four circular sensors on the back of the device. Two of the sensors are infrared, and the other two measure light. Apple uses these sensors to measure things like your heart rate. But it's also using the sensors to tell when the Apple Watch is on your wrist. If you take off the watch, then the device's screen locks you out. You need to enter a code on the Apple Watch before it can be used for payments again.