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I have an M1 Mac mini and an Apple Watch Series 6. Up until this morning, it faithfully unlocked my Mac.
I have turned off unlock with Watch, restarted my Mac, turned unlock back on. It says synced but does not unlock my Mac.
My Mac/watch/iPhone have all been updated to the latest updates. Any suggestions what I can try next?
The problem is there has been a minor corruption of you MacOS working memory.
A fix that works consistently is:
Open System Settings (under Apple Menu) and navigate to TouchID & Password.
Try to turn on the "Use Apple Watch to unlock applications and you Mac" and attempt to turn the toggle on, including responding with your admin ID. (It will fail with a nonsense error message)
Power off your Apple Watch and restart your Mac
When Mac finishes restart, sign into Mac (the "Use Apple Watch to unlock applications and you Mac" toggle may or may not be on), close the lid on your laptop or put the desktop to sleep.
Restart you Apple Watch and enter your sign in code. Wake up you Mac, even if the Mac doesn't unlock with the watch the "Use Apple Watch to unlock applications and you Mac" toggle should be on and it will subsequently unlock your Mac.
Your mileage may vary, the phase of the moon may matter, and magical incantations may be necessary ;-) Occasionally, it's taken me two tries for this fix to work, but it does work.
Sounds like you followed all the steps in the 'If you need help' section of:
Unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch - Apple Support
At this point, I suggest you contact Apple Support.
I've just enabled this on my Intel Mac mini (13.6.1) and my Series 8 watch (10.1.1). I had to turn on bluetooth and wifi (which I normal don't enable on my mini because it's hardwired to ethernet), and enable the watch to unlock in System Settings -> Login Password.
Whenever I step away from my Mac, I always lock the screen by hitting Ctrl-Command-Q which leaves me at the login screen. The Mac will not unlock with the watch from this screen. You have to hit Cancel (X) or ESC to idle the mini, and then it will unlock with the watch. The downside of this is that waking from idle half the time messes with the dual monitors. Occasionally the second monitor will not wake from idle and all my windows get placed in the wrong location. Eventually the second monitor will wake but by then all the windows are messed up. Thank goodness for Hammerspoon!
Apple watch does not unlock Mac Mini
