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Watch Series 5 won't unlock 2018 Mac Mini after OS7 update

It worked perfectly with my series 3 when I first got the Mac mini a few weeks ago. I used it like that working awesome with not a single problem for about 3 weeks until the new updates all came out and then it stopped working and hasn't worked since. I've tried every solution I've found so far and none have fixed it.

I like the feature so much I thought it was the watch, and even replaced it with a series 5 and still have same issue. One weird thing is that it did work a couple times the other day but then stopped again right away! SO FRUSTRATING! Literally my favorite feature of the apple ecosystem.

Solutions I've tried:

  1. From Apple: Uncheck box for using watch on Mac mini, restart. Check box, put in password.

Usually this will just spin the wheel and tell me it can't connect to my watch, but sometimes it connects right away but then won't work.

2. From forums: In Keychain Access Delete files associated with Auto Unlock and AutoUnlock and then in that folder in library for auto unlock you delete the two files. Then you check the use watch box, put in password, unchecked itself and you check it again and this fixes it for many people but not for me. Usually this makes the wheel spin and 50/50 connects to watch or says it can't. If it does connect, it still doesn't unlock the computer.

Doesn't matter how close I hold my watch. Doesn't matter how close I hold my phone

I also checked that all my services are using one account and one password. I am at a loss and it is really horrible and frustrating. Please help!



Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 17, 2020 6:52 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 10, 2020 11:33 PM

I was using a USB hub that looks like it was made to perfectly match the Mac mini and give you a bunch of extra ports and fans. I unplugged the device for another reason and my watch started working to unlock my computer again! I am really surprised by this. What a crazy problem

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Watch Series 5 won't unlock 2018 Mac Mini after OS7 update

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