I have to manually unlock when I should be able to use my new apple watch. This worked prior to updating to Sequoia! I have tried to remove the previous entries in the keychain and it still won't unlock.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
MacBook Pro (M1, 2020)
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.
I have done this too and also did an over the top reinstall of the OS to no avail. It recognizes my watch and appears to be looking for the it to authenticate but doesn’t!
This is the latest watch as well as my older one that is running the current OS!
My next move is to contact support…
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...
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 have a 2018 Mac Mini and it has never been able to use my Apple Watch (Ultra 2 at this moment in time) to reliably Unlock my Mac. What I do know is that is a collection of strategies work for some and don't work for others regardiing this issue. So for those of you who are still looking for a resolution to this problem, I created a video of what FINALLY worked for me about a month ago and continues to work EVERY SINGLE TIME. It's a incredibly hidden setting. If you watch the video, you'll understand why it took me so long to discover it. https://youtu.be/1rkKNyg-d4U?si=8G-hFiRfsoIQg0M2
😎
These steps did not work for me. Looks like I will have to contact support (or may just wait for the first patches to see if this is fixed).
Exactly as I predicted: A few days later, and my watch now unlocks my MBP. I did nothing more than the steps originally recommended. This seems to be the case each major OS upgrade.
This helped me, without doing "3. Shut down Mac".
Hello all, here is a recent post with an interesting solution.
Thanks, this fixed it for me too.
Thank you. Worked for me.
No joy. I even went a step further and reset my Apple Watch 8, then reinstalled it from a backup on my iPhone.
This worked for me without having to shut down both devices. Thx.
This has been a problem since I got my new Series 10 watch. I finally followed your instructions above and it worked! Thank you
Unable to unlock my MacBook Pro using Apple Watch
