User profile for user: farsiderules
farsiderules Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Unable to unlock MacBook Pro with Apple Watch

I recently updated my iPhone to iOS14 and Apple Watch to watchOS7. In doing so, I now can not unlock my MacBook Pro (on High Sierra 10.13.6) using my Apple Watch and get the message "Your mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch.


I've unpaired, restarted, etc. and still nothing.

Apple Watch Series 3, watchOS 7

Posted on Sep 20, 2020 5:53 PM

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User profile for user: farsiderules
farsiderules Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Posted on Oct 11, 2020 5:13 PM

Found something in another thread which worked for me


Steps (follow at your own discretion)

  1. Open "Keychain Access"
  2. In "View", enable "Show Invisible Items"
  3. Search for "Auto Unlock"
  4. You should see a whole bunch of application passwords for "Auto Unlock: XXXX's ..."
  5. Select all records and delete (this will reset/disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple Macs)
  6. Whilst still in "Keychain Access", search for "AutoUnlock" (no space)
  7. There should be 4 entries for "tlk" "tlk-nonsync" "classA" "classC"
  8. Select 4 records and delete (don't worry if they re-appear, the system repairs this automatically)
  9. Open "Finder" and navigate to "~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock"
  10. There should be two files "ltk.plist" and "pairing-records.plist"
  11. Delete both files
  12. Open "System Preferences" and try enabling auto unlock. You may need to enable it twice, the first attempt will fail.


What I did after following the above (just in case it mattered):

  1. Toggle "KeyChain" off and then back in iCloud settings on the Mac.
  2. Restart the MacBook.
  3. Then, went to enable the "Use your apple Watch..." checkbox and after 1-2 attempts, it worked!


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: farsiderules
farsiderules Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

Oct 11, 2020 5:13 PM in response to JoeC777

Found something in another thread which worked for me


Steps (follow at your own discretion)

  1. Open "Keychain Access"
  2. In "View", enable "Show Invisible Items"
  3. Search for "Auto Unlock"
  4. You should see a whole bunch of application passwords for "Auto Unlock: XXXX's ..."
  5. Select all records and delete (this will reset/disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple Macs)
  6. Whilst still in "Keychain Access", search for "AutoUnlock" (no space)
  7. There should be 4 entries for "tlk" "tlk-nonsync" "classA" "classC"
  8. Select 4 records and delete (don't worry if they re-appear, the system repairs this automatically)
  9. Open "Finder" and navigate to "~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock"
  10. There should be two files "ltk.plist" and "pairing-records.plist"
  11. Delete both files
  12. Open "System Preferences" and try enabling auto unlock. You may need to enable it twice, the first attempt will fail.


What I did after following the above (just in case it mattered):

  1. Toggle "KeyChain" off and then back in iCloud settings on the Mac.
  2. Restart the MacBook.
  3. Then, went to enable the "Use your apple Watch..." checkbox and after 1-2 attempts, it worked!


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Unable to unlock MacBook Pro with Apple Watch

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