Enabling Apple Watch unlock fails

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Enabling Apple Watch unlock fails

I have just updated my series 4 Apple Watch to WatchOS 7. After that it won't unlock my Mac. If I go to my Mac's preferences/security and try to check the box to enable the alert tells me that "your Mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch. Make sure your Apple Watch is unlocked and on wrist, and your phone is unlocked.'

My phone is on my first, and both my iPhone and Apple watch are unlocked. I have tried everything I can figure out but no help.

Can anybody help?

Posted on Sep 19, 2020 8:01 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 15, 2020 9:56 AM in response to Mariusariel

Same issue with new 6 SE. Attempted fixes:

unpaired/paired again
rebooted Mac, phone, watch, etc
signed out of AppleID and back in on Mac
turned on/off all antennas and wifi on phone, Mac, watch

Still no go. Some continuity features work, like Messages on watch showing up on Mac when it is close enough, so there is clearly some level of communication, so the the unlock feature failing to connect to the watch must be a permissions issue that I cannot seem to get past.

I do have separate AppleID for iCloud and iTunes (old account used to purchase music, apps before iCloud) so maybe this is a factor. I am constantly fighting with having 2 separate IDs, but haven't found a way to combine them.

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