Unable to unlock my MacBook Pro using Apple Watch

First Method (@nicevillesteve):

1. Turn off WiFi on Mac
2. Turn off "Watch Unlock" on Mac
3. Shut down Mac
4. Shut down Watch
5. Turn on Mac
6. Turn on Watch
7. Turn on WiFi on Mac
8. Turn on "Watch Unlock" on Mac

Brute force sledgehammer method: (takes longer)

1. Turn off "Watch Unlock" on Mac
2. Pick up your iPhone and open the Watch App
3. Unpair your Apple Watch from the iPhone
4. Pair the Apple Watch to your iPhone
5. Turn on "Watch Unlock" on Mac
6. Power Mac off completely and back on

I've had to do this when I upgraded to Ventura & Sonoma. It must be some security related thing.

This has been an ongoing problem with just about every macOS upgrade or update. The solution in my case has usually been to wait a day or two... until one day even that didn't work.

The following Discussion describes the procedure I used after waiting a few days with no resolution:

Can't unlock Mac with Watch since Ventura… - Apple Community

Try it. Forget about deleting Keychain entires etc. Same goes for un-pairing, re-pairing, signing out, signing in... I tried all that and more. Nothing worked.

As a perfunctory prerequisite be sure to follow Apple's steps first, as I recommended in that Discussion, but which didn't work for me: Unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch - Apple Support.

Yes this has been beta tested as well as reported, but given its (usual) spontaneous resolution after a day or so it has failed to rise to the level of requiring attention from Apple... yet.

My next move is to contact support…

Definitely contact Apple and tell them about it. It shouldn't require the conniptions I described in Can't unlock Mac with Watch since Ventura… - Apple Community.

I followed the instructions posted by nicevillesteve and got things working after the initial Sequoia update. However, as an FYI, the recent 15.1 update broke it again. I updated my iMac and phone but still broken. Finally I updated the watch--and without doing anything else, unlocking is now working again.

So for me, the second time it 'broke' updating the watch itself was all I needed to do.

Thought I'd post that info in case it helps someone else.

I had the same problem. I had a Series 8 that unlocked my MBP M2 and upgraded it to a Series 10. It continued to unlock with no issues. After installing Sequoia and watchOS 11 it worked for a few hours then quit unlocking. Under Touch ID & Passwords in settings on my Mac, it had the name of my Series 8 listed and unlocking with it was turned on. The Series 10 was not there. I tried turning off the Series 8 then back on. It timed out with the “unable to communicate” message. I tried several suggestions from this and other forums with no luck. I figured out that my new watch was using the same name as my old one. So I gave my watch a new name. In the Watch app on iPhone, General > About > Name. Waited a few minutes for iCloud to sync, then opened up Touch ID & Password in settings on my Mac. The Series 8 name had been replaced with the new name. Turned on unlocking and it synced right away. No issues since. Hope this helps.

That happens to me occasionally too. I typically turn off the functionality and turn it back on to get it back working.

Got a new MacBook Air M3 today. Unlock with Watch wasn't working. Tried the steps listed here as well as others. None appeared to work. Called Apple support. They had me set up a new user profile as a test. That didn't seem to work. I finagled with the settings for the screen saver and that (or time in conjunction with the other things) did the trick.

I have a hot corner set up for the Lock Screen. If I use that to turn on the Lock Screen, the MacBook Pro will not unlock with Apple Watch. I have to use Touch ID or password to unlock. I have another hot corner set to start the screen saver. If I start the screen saver and then hit a button, my Watch will unlock the Mac. It will unlock with the Watch or give you the option to enter a password. It does not ask you for Touch ID. And if I close the lid and then reopen it, Unlock with Watch works with Screen Saver.

It might be that there's stuff on the back end that needs to happen. Anyway, just sharing my experience.

I've got the following settings for my Lock Screen:

No way this wasn’t caught in public beta testing.

after years of unlocking with my watch, when I upgraded to sequoia it now tells me “Your Mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch…”

No support article suggests something constructive.

Same issue. Apple Watch Ultra, rebooting, re-adding it, toggling it nada. None of this should be that hard. Imagine the next step someone says is to sign out of iCloud, unpair the watch, resign in and re-pair the watch. Which is code for just go buy a new device lol

didn't work for me... the text says, "unlocking with apple watch...." and then just spins. It eventually times out. This has happened each time I upgraded the OS, and I never understand how to fix it. I then find that, weeks later, it mysteriously starts working again.

On a related note, I can longer print either. Says there's no response from the printer.. again, every time I upgrade the OS. Again, I have no idea how and why it eventually starts working again...

I had to do the same on Ventura and Sonoma. It's apparently related to security and you sometimes need to re-pair the Watch to your iPhone then turn on the unlock with Apple Watch on macOS. At least the newer Watches are faster to unpair / pair.

I also upgraded my iPhone XS to an iPhone 16 Pro so that might be another factor that can affect things.

Thanks for these instructions. I've had this problem since I upgraded my watch to a series 10 and updated the software on my MacBook and iPhone. I just followed these instructions--didn't think it worked at first. But when I came back to the computer later it unlocked as soon as the computer woke up! Will have to see now if I have to go through the same procedure to get my iMac working with it.

Thanks!

Judy

I tried all the simple steps. I finally unpaired my Apple Watch Ultra 2 and paired it again, and my Mac will finally unlock. I'm still having an issue with my Watch unlocking my iPhone. Watch always unlocked via the iPhone.