Hi all,
After upgrading to watchOS 7 on Series 3, auto unlock is not working anymore. I get the "activating" message when trying to enable it again on the Mac and then the message I must make sure the watch is unlocked, on my wrist and the phone must be unlocked too. Everything checks out.
Already rebooted Mac and watch. Anyone else having the same problem? thanks!
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Apple Watch Sport
Interesting… I got it working again…! Here’s how.
The steps are generally the same as those described by @stoska992, but, here and there, I had ti add additional steps:
My AutoUnlock stopped working. In system preferences, I found the Auto Unlock with applewatch box unchecked. Checking the box just gave me the error message, "Apple watch must be signed in to icloud". The box remained unchecked. When I checked them, I found that the watch and phone are actually logged into icloud with apple id.
Tried the 12 steps recommended by stoska992 without any luck. Shut down and restarted all devices. Still no luck. Finally saw somewhere that quitting icloud worked for someone. Apple menu > Preferences > Apple ID > choose "overview" in the left side menu > "sign out". Then sign back in. That worked.
Later, the i-phone settings had a message saying "some features won't work until you sign in to icloud." When I did this the auto unlock stopped working again, but in preferences, I was able to restore it by unchecking and then rechecking the auto unlock box.
Hope this helps someone else...
Have you tried quitting & signing back into icloud on your Mac? Apple menu > Preferences > Apple ID > choose "overview" in the left side menu > "sign out". Then sign back in. That worked for me but that wasn't quite the end of the issue. Apparently my phone also had been signed out; because soon after, I saw in my i-phone settings a message saying "some features won't work until you sign in to icloud." So I signed in on the phone, which caused the auto unlock on the Mac to stop working again, but it was easily fixed: in preferences, I unchecked and then rechecked the auto unlock box. Has been mostly been working since then (many months). (It stopped working once since then. Fixed it by sign out/in on icloud again.)
After reading multiple post and attempting multiple troubleshooting methods described, I read a reply that suggested resetting the iWatch. I went ahead and just unpaired my watch from my phone and paired it again. Then attempted to check off the box to "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and you Mac". This actually worked. Just simply unpair.
Go to the Watch app on your phone
Click on top left corner "All Watches"
Click on the "i"
Click on "Unpair Apple Watch"
Once done, proceed to pair the watch again. Try this method. Might just be as simple as that.
Just re-set my Apple Watch and re-paired it with my iPhone and now unlock works!
Love this feature but can be tricky to get working
The Monterey update to 12.4 (along with update to iOS 15.5 and WatchOS update to 8.6) seems to have resolved this issue for my 14" MacBook Pro (M1 Max).
A guy on another forum posted this, and this kept it working for me. After taking the laborious steps above:
After spending hours trying tons of various suggestions for exactly the same issue, this suggestion solved the issue.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251803595
What I did after following the above (just in case it mattered):
I tried the method outlined by stoska992 but this didn't work for me. As I seen others mention PRAM and SMC resets with no luck I tried booting into safe mode and was successfully able to switch on the unlock with watch option. This stuck upon reboot also. I'm not sure was it some combo of the keychain/plist + safe mode or just the safe mode that got it there in the end.
I've been having the same issue and tried all of the suggestions in this thread to no avail. I tried turning off "cellular" on the watch, and it worked immediately. Obviously you have to have a cellular model, but that's what did it for me. Thanks, all!
Success with these directions with one additional check--your network settings.
I just bought a new I-Watch SE and had the same problem on my laptop 2016 and IMAC 2020. I updated the I-Watch to 7.0.1 with no success. I did a screen share with a second level support with Apple while he looked on to the instructions above. I was told that engineering was working on a fix when it didn't work.
After getting off the phone, I saw that I was not on the exact same network with computer and iPhone. When the networks were the same AND I followed the above directions, I was able to get both computers to unlock with Series 1 Watch and I-Watch SE (Series 5). The older watch was still running 6.2.8 with no difficulties. The problem is with 7.0 and 7.01. Hopefully the engineering fixes will make this easier for the future....
Here’s what fixed it for me, following steps originally posted here then adding a couple of steps added by others on this thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251826134?answerId=253529745022#253529745022
FIRST, the 12 step procedure above:
THEN, this command in terminal provided by contributor “isprainedmyuvula” ( …a breathtakingly creative and silly handle):
sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist && sudo shutdown -r now
…Which will restart your Mac.
THEN #12 above again. And just like stoska992 writes, it indeed took the second attempt at checking the box, and out worked instantly!
FWIW I tried this and it did not work - until I followed the instructions again but before enabling auto unlock a second time I disabled Bluetooth on my Mac, then enabled auto unlock and got a prompt to turn on Bluetooth, did so and auto unlock was enabled 😕
This is a MUST! If you've gone into the keychain and deleted everything, just as above, go into the Watch app, Turn off Unlock with Iphone, and then turn off wrist detection, the click the checkbox on the mac again, an error message pops up saying "please turn on wrist detection, turn it back on the iphone watch app, (add your passcode too) then tick the box again and voila! Worked like a charm, 2016 Mac Apple watch 7.0.1, thank you very much!
The fix didn't work for me until I followed @kingsmanG's suggestion to also go into the Watch app and turn off unlock with iPhone and wrist detection before ticking the box in system prefs. Needed a restart but now it works. Very grateful!
Is your Watch connected to the Same Wifi as your iPhone? After I upgraded my iPhone to iOS 14.0.1 & then my Watch to 7.0.2, and then trying to do this & Failing, I noticed that my Watch wasn’t connected to any Wifi – in fact it showed NO Wifis! It worked after I Re-Started my Watch, then Re-Started my Mac & then going to System Preference & checking that Box 2x, it worked! (boy, iOS 14 & Watch OS 7 are a big mess! – most hassle I’ve had with ANY iOS update & I had an iPhone 4G)
I had posted above that it worked, but the next day it didn't. I tried the procedure again and it didn't work. I called Apple again and THIS is what DID work.
Try the above procedure again, but FIRST, UNCHECK Keychain Access under your iCloud account. Then do the procedure above, eliminating all the Auto Unlock, AutoUnlock, and the autounlock in Sharing. Sleep your computer and then wake it, and your Apple Watch should work. Now REBOOT your computer, and try it again, to sleep and wake. NOW go to your iCloud account to turn on Keychain Access under iCloud, but in may case it was automatically turned on with reboot. Please let me know if this works.
Mac not unlocking after watchOS 7 update
