Mac not unlocking after watchOS 7 update

Have you tried doing an NVRAM reset? First, if the feature is still enabled in System Preferences, try DISABLING it. Then, empty the contents of the ~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock folder. Then delete the Keychain Entries that you get when searching for AutoUnlock and Auto Unlock in Keychain Access (for any entries to show, enable ’Show Invisible Items’ in the View menu. Then, after deleting those entries, do the NVRAM reset. Then try enabling again. Note that enabling the feature for the first time nearly always fails because MacOS itself also has a tiny little bug in it; enabling it a second time should work. You may also want to unpair and re-pair your watch prior to the NVRAM reset, but it isn’t an absolute necessity, especially given the fact that your other system works with no problems.

In your case, be sure to only carry out this procedure on the Mac that is affected; leave the other Mac untouched.

Thanks csteelooper. I reset NVRAM (command-option PR at startup) but I did not do the stoska992 procedure again before resetting NVRAM. I'll give it a try and re-post. BTW, I've fixed the unlocking problem on my MacPro (2013) several times but it has just quit working after working for several days each time....

Thanks again csteelooper but no joy. Curiously, I don't get the "Unable to communicate..." and the checkmarks actually stick in the Security & Privacy panel but still neither my AW4 nor AWO unlock my Mac Pro after putting it to sleep and waking. Maybe 11.1, now in beta, will fix this....

Well, I finally got it working again after a very long time (Mac Pro 2013 with macOS 11.01, iPhone 11 with iOS 14.2, AW4 with WatchOS 7.1). How? I unpaired/paired again from backup my AW4 again--No Joy! Then I followed the Stoska992 steps--No Joy! Then I toggled Bluetooth off and on my Mac Pro--No Joy! Shutdown my Mac, and rebooted my AW4, rebooted my iPhone and made sure my AW4 re-connected. Started up my Mac and made sure my iPhone was listed as a location in the Finder, opened System Preferences and BOOM my AW4 was accepted in the checkbox in the Security & Privacy pane. Put my Mac to sleep and it unlocked my Mac on being awakened. Okay, let's see how long it works this time. The last several times I got it working it was only good for a day or few days.

Meanwhile, my Mac mini (2014) still unlocks with my AW4 (and original AW) and it's up to running macOS 11.1beta and has never missed an unlock ever since the feature was first available years ago.

Go figure!

I tried all the steps described by stoka992. No dice.

I reset my Apple Watch with the option to restore from a backup (a hassle - for it takes time and then I had to wait for all my apps to reload, then had to reenter all my credit cards for Apple Pay.) No dice.

I retried all of stoka992 suggestions after the reset, and it worked.

Open the finder and click on your home folder (it's the one with a house icon) then select view > show view options. A box will pop up with options you can tick off. Tick the box for show Library folder. Close that box .You will see the Library folder greyed out as it's a hidden folder.

I have tried this multiple times without any resolution. I have 2019 iMac 27" and an Apple Watch 5. Everything was working fine and now that I have Big Sur my Apple Watch is no longer unlocking my Mac and "your Mac is unable to communicate with your Apple Watch." I have recently upgraded to the iPhone 12 and I do not know if that is the problem or not. My Apple Watch also keeps asking me to sign into my account multiple times a day. None of this makes sense to me and is quite annoying considering I have tried all of this multiple times before commenting. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I had to reset my watch. I know that is a pain but it worked and I had tried everything else suggested. One thing I will point out, the first time tried to click the "use your watch to unlock apps and your Mac" in Security and Privacy I received the same message again, but after trying the second time it worked and it has worked ever since. Also, when you reset your watch you can reset it as a new watch or from the old info on your watch (I am a bit vague on the terms they used) but you don't have to start as if it is a new watch. I am only mentioning this because it was a choice you have to make and I didn't know what to do, but I did not have to reset it as if it was new. I am not even sure if it matters but it worked and I am relieved. Haha. Not sure where you are living but if in the States, Happy Thanksgiving

I have had the same issue since watchOS7 and macOS big sur updates. Unfortunately I don't recall which one actually broke it. Tried various options mentioned in this forum but the only thing which worked for me is to reset and unpair my Apple Watch and once again set it up as a new Apple Watch. After that I re-enabled unlocking with Apple Watch in Security and Privacy settings on my Mac and it started working. I hope it does not break again. Fingers crossed.

This seems to have worked for everyone but me :(

I'm still stuck with this and have spent hours reading about it and trying steps in different articles.

I have a new M1 air and just cant get this to work. This does work on my late 2013 iMac and my late 2018 air.

Anyone in the same boat? Any other suggestions?

I also spent an inordinate amount of time. Hard to know whose procedures you used. So many threads on the same subject. As I posted, I followed stoska992's steps, then somebody else suggested signing off on iCloud.com and back on. Then I restarted the Mac, so far so good, it's working.

For those who have tried all of the solutions with no luck....I can offer one more solution.

I followed all of the recommended instructions, reset/re-paired my Apple Watch, logged out/back in to iCloud, cleared AutoUnlock in keychain, etc and nothing seemed to work...

All of this was done on my 2020 13in MacBook Pro running BigSur. As a last ditch effort to see if it would help, I re-enabled watch unlock on my OTHER 2019 MacBook Pro 15in that is still running Catalina. Went back into my settings on the 13in and BOOM! It worked!

If you have multiple devices, try this method before beating your head against the wall too hard :)

Apparently there's a bug in 11 and 11.1, I left the computer overnight and feature was switched off. Good that I only had to reenable it and it went smoothly. That's annoying :/ I know it's not a core feature, but believe me or not, I bought my first Apple Watch mainly because of that.

Incidentally, I've tried several times to post a link to the MacRumors discussion, but anything that links even remotely to it gets removed by Apple moderators. Very unhelpful.

I suggest you visit the MacRumors forums and search for the user mentioned above and the title of this thread.

OK. So I feel a little ridiculous right now. Have used login with Apple Watch for some time and didn't realize how much it helped my workflow until it was gone. Have been dealing with this issue since the WatchOS 7 update and Big Sur install. Have been through the miracle steps and resets and restarts multiple times. Nothing seemed to work...

Until Ghost_inthe_machine posted about the "Disable automatic login" checkbox. I was so fixated on the "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac" box that I had never noticed that the install of Big Sur had defaulted to checking that little devil. A quick UN-checking of the "Disable automatic login", and then turning on "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac" was all it took realign my universe.

So, for those of you who may have been like me - a little thick headed - please make sure that is unchecked before you waste time trying to make your Apple Watch communicate with your Mac. Since the one completely prohibits the other, I would think Apple would make this process such that when you select the one, the other is defacto deselected - Even if there was an annoyance dialogue asking if you are sure. But alas, knuckleheads like myself must muddle our way to finding such oversights unaided.