unlock Mac with Apple Watch

My iMac 24 used to automatically unlock regularly with my watch. Since the latest update it works sometimes but then stops working. All my devices have the latest update and I've restarted my Mac. Any ideas?

iMac 24″, macOS 13.3

Posted on Apr 1, 2023 7:10 PM

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29 replies

Jun 17, 2023 8:02 AM in response to James Brickley

It works for multiple Macs as long as all the Macs are signed into the same Apple ID.


My Apple Watch unlocks my company Mac, and it unlocks my personal Mac.


For my company Mac, it unlocks it most of the time. Maybe once a week (or 2) it will want me to enter the password.


My personal Mac wants my password more frequently than my company Mac.


I do not know if the difference is that I'm mostly on my company Mac, and it is a duration between required password, or if it is because the company Mac uses Ethernet, and the WiFi is idle, where as the personal Mac uses WiFi and is busy doing something via WiFi and misses the Apple Watch. I just do not know.


But I can definitely confirm that the same Apple Watch will unlock more than a single Mac.

Aug 13, 2023 7:05 PM in response to Ruff2102

Hopefully this will help some poor soul before they spend months and months as I did trying unsuccessfully to resolve this issue. I have a 2019 iMac 8 Core i9 and here is my story:


Auto-unlock worked perfectly since inception up until the April 2023 13.3 Ventura update. When the next few Ventura releases failed to fix the issue I spent dozens of hours over the course of the next 3 or 4 months scouring the internet for any possible solution. You name I did it... dozens of times, over-and-over-and-over, rebooting devices, signing out of iCloud accounts, resetting bluetooth modules, setting up alternate WiFi networks, deleting keychain entries and deleting related finder files. Any sporadic success was short lived and would break again after the very next reboot. I even reinstalled the operating system via Recovery Console, all to no avial.



--------------

My specific error code in terminal was 138. Here is how to see your specific error code(s):


Step 1: Enter this in Terminal:

log stream --predicate 'category == "AutoUnlock" AND eventMessage contains "fail with error"'


Step 2: Attempt an Auto-Unlock


Terminal reported the following error after every failed Auto-Unlock:

sharingd: [com.apple.sharing:AutoUnlock] Client ack'd did fail with error: Error Domain=SFAutoUnlockErrorDomain Code=138 "Ranging Timeout: Couldn’t Find Peer" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Ranging Timeout: Couldn’t Find Peer}


--------------



**The fix..... reset NVRAM/PRAM. On my 2019 iMac, simply hold down Option, Command, P, and R at startup**


Here are the detailed steps I took, I am not sure all were necessary but the NVRAM/PRAM reset in Step #5 was definitely necessary:


  1. Disable "Use apple Watch to Unlock" in settings.
  2. Delete the numerous keychain files: "autounlock" and "auto unlock"
  3. Deleted the (2) files in  ~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock.
  4. Shutdown
  5. Startup while holding (Option, Command, P, and R) to reset the NVRAM/PRAM.
  6. Enable "Use apple Watch to Unlock" in Settings.
  7. Test Auto-Unlock and if still not working, one final shut down and restart was necessary and Auto-Unlock remained persistent!!


Let me know if this helped anyone.

Sep 29, 2023 10:29 AM in response to James Brickley

I have an iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017 recently updated to Ventura 13.6 and iWatch Series 6 recently updated with 10.0.1 and unlock with iWatch not working. The locked screen shows it is unlocking, but then prompts for login password. I have conducted the disable, power down, re-enable sequence and behavior has not changed.

Ran log stream in a terminal and received following error:

sharingd: [com.apple.sharing:AutoUnlock] Client ack'd did fail with error: Error Domain=SFAutoUnlockErrorDomain Code=114 "Remote WiFi failure" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Remote WiFi failure}

Sep 29, 2023 11:08 AM in response to JE-Star

JE-Star I know you did everything suggested in in that Apple Support document, and it did not help.


The locked screen shows it is unlocking, but then prompts for login password.


That is identical to what I have experienced, many times. For some reason it seems to occur with every macOS update. Wait a day or so, and it will probably just start working again.


Refer to Apple Watch Series 8 Doesn't Unlock Macbook Air 15" - Apple Community.

Oct 4, 2023 8:32 PM in response to JE-Star

JE-Star,


As convoluted as the below list seems, please try ALL in this exact order:


  1. Force your iMac to use (and stay on) your router's 2.4 GHz Wifi (not 5 GHz).
  2. Turn off "Watch Unlock" on Mac
  3. Turn off WiFi on iMac
  4. Shutdown iMac
  5. Shutdown Watch
  6. Unplug all USB and Thunderbolt devices. If your boot drive is an external thunderbolt, unplug for a minute and plug back in.
  7. Boot up Watch and iMac
  8. Unlock Watch
  9. Turn on WiFi on iMac
  10. Turn on "Watch Unlock" on iMac
  11. At this point there is a 50/50 chance that iMac Unlock with Watch will work. If not, it may take a 2nd reboot of iMac and it will almost always work.


If successful, you can try and do away with some steps but be prepared for some long stretches of trial and error.


I find that sometimes functionality will survive many reboots and sometimes fails after the very next reboot and requires the steps all over again.


Let me know how you make out. Post with any questions.


CG


EDIT: forgot to mention, Step 10 turn on "Watch Unlock" on iMac: If the first attempt at getting the pill indicator to stick should fail, move off of the "Login Password" menu and back on and try again.



unlock Mac with Apple Watch

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