You can now own an Apple Keyboard with Touch ID – without buying an iMac

When Apple unleashed its brand-new 24in iMac earlier this year, the keyboard in the box also received an overhaul. Along with curvier edges and hues to colour-match the iMac hardware, we got Touch ID on a standalone external keyboard for the first time. The need to laboriously tap in passwords was eradicated. Bliss! Unless you own a Mac mini or use an external keyboard with an M1 Apple laptop – whereupon you’ve possibly spent time figuring out how you can swipe a chum’s iMac keyboard while they’re not looking. Fortunately, Apple’s now made Touch ID-equipped keyboards available to anyone with an M1 Mac, by way of the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID for Mac models with Apple silicon (£149) and Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad for Mac models with Apple silicon (£179). The names aren’t pretty but the keyboards sure are – although they only come in silver, and so you’ll still need to ‘borrow’ one from an iMac owner should you fancy a keyboard in a more interesting colour.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.