Wireless connection is too weak to unlock with apple watch

I wanted to reply to share my experience, I am not an IT guy so maybe somebody else can read between the lines and say what actually was going on.

I had the same issue, I have 2 Apple Watches, a 5 and a 7 and neither of them would unlock my MacBook Air. Either nothing would happen or I would get the too weak message. Also some apps that "approve on watch" like opening passwords in preferences would also not work.

I have also been experiencing spotty WiFi with the MacBook Air dropping internet and other devices in the house dropping the internet connection.

I ran Pingplotter sidekick on the Mac and it reported that my bandwidth was being saturated at hop 1, by this Mac!

After trying everything Google had to offer and multiple discussions with my ISP, I decided to reset the Mac to out of the box and start again. I started the process and I got a Warning that iCloud was still uploading files and I would lose those files if I continued. This is strange to me as I do not have many or large files on iCloud. I backed out of the reset and tried again 3 hours later only to get the same message.

This time I hit continue and reset the Mac.

Since doing this, for 3 weeks now our internet has been 100% stable with no drop offs, speed on my Mac is double what it was at 560Mbps and both watches work flawlessly unlocking the Mac and now let me approve things on the Mac with the watch.

Sorry I can't say specifically what the root cause was, but it seemed like the Mac was stuck uploading something that never completed and sucked up all the WiFi trying.

Turn off “unlock with iPhone” in Apple Watch app. I just did this and my new MBP 16 inch has unlocked great all day. Before I was having that same issue all the time. My 2017 iMac unlocks fine every time regardless. Not sure if it will be a temporary solution or if it will come back. I like unlocking watch with my phone so I hope they fix it soon. Hope this helps.

I upgraded to iOS 16 and Monterey 12.6 a week ago and the problem is much less of a problem. I have had the "connection too weak" message twice and it quickly resolved itself without me having to do anything. Hopefully the rest of you experience this same success.

Talked to Apple Help-- they suggested I reboot the watch. Did so with watch close to Mac. This seems to work so far.

Hey Chris,

First, we'd recommend checking for and installing any updates that may be available for your MacBook Pro: Update macOS on Mac

Then, we'd suggest restarting your Mac, iPhone and Apple Watch to see if that changes anything.

We'd also recommend reviewing the information in this article: Unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch

Thanks!

<< Apple, can you please fix it? >>

this is the Apple User-to-User support Community. Readers are almost all other users like you. No one from Apple is responsible for tracking or following any complaints posted here -- this forum is for User-to-User brainstorming.

To get Apple working on a solution, you need to use the contact support link, and work with a first-responder to characterize the problem. If they agree it is a bug, have them file a Bug report. If they have no ideas, ask to speak with a Specialist.

Engineering only looks at problems in response to filed Bug Reports.

Get Support

.

Continuing with my reporting: I still sporadically get the "weak connection" message when I attempt to log in, but consistently, if I hit "Cancel" and re-open, it works-- even if my arm and watch haven't moved. So this is over two weeks after the "re-boot the watch" effort, and I'm pretty satisfied with the way it is working.

This message, "Wireless connection is too weak to unlock with apple watch" isn't a good description for the real issue in most cases. The message is actually about how close your watch is to your Mac, so just make sure your watch is "very close to your Mac" when you're trying to unlock. "Auto Unlock works when you're wearing your unlocked watch and are very close to your Mac" Unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch - Apple Support

I repeatedly have this problem every time I update any of my Macs. It is really annoying to see "it just works" is just a slogan.

I have the problem on my MacBook Pro 2019 and my Mac Mini M1. For some reason, my 2013 Mac Pro doesn't have the problem anymore because it isn't supported. It unlocks with ease better than my modern Macs.

I know the process. Disable the unlock with Apple Watch, restart the computer, enable unlock with Apple Watch and restart the computer and then maybe it works for now.

Time to contact Apple: Get Support link at upper right this page.

It isn't complaining about your watch having a weak wifi signal, it is complaining about your watch being physically too far from your Mac. If you see this message, move your watch closer to your Mac and it will magically unlock.

Yes, it appears that you are correct.

I watched a video on YouTube where a tech guy talked about this issue and said that it was because the watch was physically too far from the Mac. I tried it for several days and it seemed to be the case for me as well... my MBP is probably 3 feet from me as I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse hooked up to it... but then it started acting up again, no matter how close the watch was to the MBP... so yeah, it's clear that it is a bug that Apple has to fix.

5 days later and it happened again-- "connection too weak to unlock with apple watch." I re-booted the watch, but that didn't work, this time. So I re-booted the computer and, after initial entrance, the computer opened with the watch. Now I have a two-step process...

darrelc67: 'Just make sure your watch is "Very close to your Mac"'

Don't you think we all know that, and have tried that? You can be 1 inch away and it fails. This is an intermittent bug in the software.