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Apple Watch No Longer Unlocks Mac

I have used my Apple Watch 4 to unlock my iMac. It frequently requires two tries, but it unlocks the Mac.


Suddenly, the Watch will not unlock my iMac. I have tried the usual fixes: Turning off the option in the Mac, rebooting, then turning back on the unlock with Watch option, and shutting down and restarting the Watch. No luck.


Any help would be appreciated.

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Nov 17, 2020 2:01 PM

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7 replies

Nov 17, 2020 3:02 PM in response to Lawrence Hammer

Update to watchOS 7.1, as it has a fix for unlocking Macs



If that does not work, it should, but if it does not work, then read the following threads


Check out this thread on fixing Apple Watch unlocking Mac

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251803595?answerId=253458029022#253458029022


Then follow with this thread

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251826134?answerId=253504359022#253504359022


And


I also found that it took awhile for the iCloud Keychain records to propagate and merge on all the systems. More so when you have multiple devices sharing the keychain (I have 4 Macs, the iPhone, and the Apple Watch). I followed both of the above threads, but it was not reliably working until the next day, when I tried again. And I did have to click the enable check box twice the next day, but then it stuck.


And this thread says they also had to toggle the Apple Watch -> Settings -> Siri -> Listen for "Hey Siri" option off then on

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251803595?answerId=253782332022#253782332022


Hints (you will understand when you read the first and second threads):

Applications -> Utilities -> Keychain Access


Finder -> Go menu -> ~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock


System Preferences -> iCloud -> Keychain

Apple Watch No Longer Unlocks Mac

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