Apple Watch unlock with Face ID not working on iOS 14.7.1

The issue has been narrowed down to mask detection.

if you switch off mask detection in iOS, the the watch unlock will work in 14.7.1.

Switch on iPhone unlock with mask detection, and auto watch unlock will fail.

Same for me. 14.7 worked fine, but next day after 14.7.1 Watch wouldn’t unlock. Using iPhone 11 Pro and Watch S4.

What worked for me was turning both devices OFF, the back ON. Now I’ve seen for the first time the new Slide-down oval that tells you Watch was unlocked (with FaceID); it has a “Lock” button on the right side.

Previously I tried

• restarting the watch,
• toggling Wi-Fi on both devices
• switching watch unlock setting two off then back on.

Those didn’t help, or maybe they did in combo with powering both devices off.

Update: unlocking the watch doesn’t seem to be complete reliable. Had to try twice to capture screen shot.

Unpairing my Apple Watch from my iPhone https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204568

Then pairing and restoring my Apple Watch to my iPhone https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204505

Cured my Apple Watch unlock via iPhone issues.

So there's a lot of confusion here. Are these two features supposed to be mutually exclusive, or not?

That is: Should we be able to have both "Unlock with apple watch" (when wearing facemasks) and "Unlock with iPhone" (on the watch itself) at the same time?

• If so, this is a bug and needs to be fixed. The temporary fix for now is to disable one feature if you want the other.
• If not, this needs to be clearly communicated somewhere, because this used to be possible and is no longer the case.

Note that I'm saying "should" above because obviously this still isn't working (e.g. watchOS 7.6.1 on Series 4 and 14.7.1 on my iPhone X) and after reading this thread, I'm still not sure what the current intended functionality is supposed to be. 😑

The reason that works is that iPhone mask detection is off by default when you te-pair your watch.

Everyone, don’t waste your time with repairing, just switch off mask detection if you want your watch to automatically unlock via Face ID.

Leave it on if you want your watch to unlock your iPhone when you are wearing a mask.

Wow, no one I knew who had a watch that updated to IOS 14.7 worked with unlocking.

It was fixed with 14.7.1

Make sure that both your watch and iPhone are both updated to the most up to date OS.

Then restart both devices.

I have also found that the unlock window has gotten very narrow. I have to have the Apple Watch numeric unlock screen displayed when I unlock my iPhone, or the Apple Watch will not unlock. If the Apple Watch display goes dark before I get my iPhone unlocked, I have to start all over again.

Also having this issue since going to 14.7.1 Its very difficult to get my watch to unlock and takes several tries of unlocking my phone with face ID before it unlocks my watch. Love when updates "improve" functionality. :(

I hade the same issue with my 12 Pro Max and Watch 6. Was working fine with 14.7 but stopped working with 14.7.1

Reset and re-pair your Apple Watch. That solved it for me and others. You don't get the notification on your phone that it unlocks the watch after doing that, but it unlocks just fine.

Confirmed the same as rodc7 on iphone 12 pro and AW5. I did a complete repair/restore on my watch too - this works because it disables the iphone unlock/face detection with mask on option. Disabling this option unlocks watch right away, enabling requires 2-4 times unlocking phone to get watch to unlock. Funny thing is when I tried it enabled with a mask on it didnt unlock my phone. So the combo of options features is quite messed up on 14.7.1 it seems. Great timing yet again - the feature was enabled just in time for masks to be removed and now doesnt work in time for masks to be required again.... oy vey.

Sure enough, the mask detection setting is the root cause here. Turn it off and the problem goes away. Hopefully we get a fix soon. I had it working with a restore, due to that turning off mask detection. Turned it on and watch unlocked stopped. Guess I'll just live with putting in a passcode on the watch for now. Rather do that then turn off mask detection. Now we just wait for a fix.

No need to reset/unpair and re-pair. The problem is with the mask detection setting. Just turn off Unlock with apple watch in the phone passcode settings and the problem goes away. This is why unpair/repair works. It restores with this off.

No need to reset/unpair and re-pair. The problem is with the mask detection setting. Just turn off Unlock with apple watch in the phone passcode settings and the problem goes away. This is why unpair/repair works. It restores with this off.

Just as everyone has found, turning off “Unlock With Apple Watch” under Face ID and Passcode on the phone restores the function, as someone else said ironic as we’re apparently going to have masks with us for the foreseeable future. When 14.7 was released the feature was 50/50 for me when I still had the mask feature enabled, 14.7.1 killed it altogether. I would think this is a bug with high priority.

Turn off "Unlock with Apple Watch" under iPhone settings -> Face ID & Passcode (for touch ID, it may be slightly different title).

This is a bug, and Apple will most likely issue an update in the next few days/weeks.

Unpairing and pairing again, turns off “Unlock with Apple Watch”, which is why it appears to fix things.

If you want both, you may be able to do the following dance (assuming you have Face ID; not sure if this will work for Finger Print Reader iPhones)

iPhone screen blank (screen off)

Raise Apple Watch until the numeric passcode unlock screen appears.

Then immediately wake the iPhone and unlock it.

If you wake the iPhone too early, it will not work.

If you wait too long to wake and unlock the iPhone, it will not work.