How can I remove an old Apple Watch from the "Allow Apple Watch to unlock your Mac" from Security and Privacy in System Preferences?

Question

How can I remove an old Apple Watch from the "Allow Apple Watch to unlock your Mac" from Security and Privacy in System Preferences?

Series 5 Apple Watch was replaced with a new one at the Authorized Service last month due to malfunction and now I'm just wondering how I can remove my old watch from this setting under the security and privacy preference pane. As far as I can see, I don't see any option to do this, so any help would be appreciated!

I deleted it on iCloud, on "find My devices" and everywhere. But it visible on "security and privacy preference pane"

MacBook Air

Posted on Oct 14, 2020 2:50 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 15, 2020 5:03 AM in response to SerkanTurkmen

I solved the original problem: Just change your Apple ID password, and your removed watch should be gone from Mac within the unlock function.

However, my Mac still cannot connect to my Watch SE.

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Answer 2

Oct 15, 2020 12:05 AM in response to SerkanTurkmen

I also have a MacBook Air and the same thing. I upgraded my Apple Watch from Series 3 to SE. Mac sees SE in the iCloud setup, but more importantly as the options to unlock the Mac I have the old Series 3 and a mystical Series 5 - that I have never owned! Series 5 cannot be reached by Mac, so where is my SE?! If SE shows as a Series 5, why it can’t be reached? Clearly some buggy code in the Mac for Apple to fix.

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Answer 3

Oct 18, 2020 10:19 AM in response to SerkanTurkmen

Thank you so much! Following the instructions to delete some files made my Mac unlock using the Apple Watch work again! 😃 What was not mentioned, but it required me to boot after deleting the files in order to get the Mac unlock work again. Like told in the instructions, the first attempt after the boot failed, but the second time tick stayed in the checkbox without an error message. Yea-haa! 🥳

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Answer 4

Oct 18, 2020 6:40 AM in response to Sinpusher

Great, it worked. Old apple watches are no longer visible.

The solution to your problem is as follows:

Steps (follow at your own discretion)

Open "Keychain Access"

In "View", enable "Show Invisible Items"

Search for "Auto Unlock"

You should see a whole bunch of application passwords for "Auto Unlock: XXXX's ..."

Select all records and delete (this will reset / disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple Macs)

Whilst still in "Keychain Access", search for "AutoUnlock" (no space)

There should be 4 entries for "tlk" "tlk-nonsync" "classA" "classC"

Select 4 records and delete (don't worry if they re-appear, the system repairs this automatically)

Open "Finder" and navigate to "~ / Library / Sharing / AutoUnlock"

There should be two files "ltk.plist" and "pairing-records.plist"

Delete both files

Open "System Preferences" and try enabling auto unlock. You may need to enable it twice, the first attempt will fail.

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How can I remove an old Apple Watch from the "Allow Apple Watch to unlock your Mac" from Security and Privacy in System Preferences?

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