The message "Your Mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch" Keeps appearing when I try to set up my Watch to unlock my MacBook Pro

I had de same issue, but as soon I disabled and re-enabled Hand-off settings on my MacBook, it started working again.

I tried everything listed here with zero effect, sinking far too many hours into it.

I tried again this morning, and it failed. Then I updated to iOS 10.0.3 and it worked immediately.

YAAAAAAY

I did Ev-er-y-thing here repeatedly with no luck. Handoff working, same wifi, handoff on/off, iPhone unlocks watch on/off, trash keychain folder, keychain in iCloud on/off, multiple reboots, updated to 3.01 and 10.12.0.1--nothing worked.

Then I deleted login keychain, forcing my iMac to make a new login keychain. That seemed to do it!

I tried every step, and finally after going on iphone in settings, icloud and turning off and then on keychain it worked. Be sure to enable two- factor authentification.

Worked for me. Had been trying to get this done for 3 days! Thanks! George

"Watch app in the iPhone---> general ---> switch "enable handoff" off ---> turn it back on"

This solved my issue right away! Thanks!

Keychain! That was my problem! I've been pulling my hair out for the last two weeks trying to figure out why I couldn't get it to work, following everything everyone was suggesting. My Keychain was off for some reason! THANK YOU!

Hi!

I was struggling too with this issue!

I found this solution that worked for me with the second try! I really recommend it.

I hope it's the same helpful to you too :-)

"Okay I think this may help everyone. 1. Apple Watch app on iPhone > Passcode > disable Unlock with iPhone 2. Restart iPhone and Apple watch (You may try this without restarting) 3. Apple Watch to airport mode 4. Enable Unlock with iPhone on Apple Watch App on iPhone 5. Turn off Aeroplane mode on apple watch (wait for the iphone to connect to the watch, at times iphone connects to the watch but passcode will say unable to connect, this is the same error your mac has. Toggle step 3 until iphone is able to enable the unlock feature.) Once thats done, your mac will have a clear way to connect to the watch via iPhone. P.S. My mac and iPhone were on different WiFi networks when this worked for me."

Evan T.

Astonishingly, that worked. Thanks for the tip.

I had the original apple watch and it connected just fine. I upgraded to the series 2 and had this error pop up. After trying several of the above tips I had no luck. I went into system preferences -> iCloud and from there signed out and signed back in. Once I did this I was able to check the box allowing my apple watch to unlock my mack book air.

No matter what I did, I couldn’t activate the unlock feature very frustrating!

Just toggling Airplane Mode on my watch multiple times seems to have solved it for me.

Going into my iCloud settings and turning on keychain did the trick for me as well. I had recently upgraded to an iPhone 7 and it must have been turned off in that restore at some point.

For those having trouble, make sure keychain is ON in your iCloud settings on your iPhone. Even if you're sure it is, like I was, double check. As soon as I turned it back on, it worked.

FWIW: Contrary to other tips, you absolutely CAN have unlock with iPhone on for your watch AND use the watch to unlock your Mac.

I had this feature working a few times, but then the option "Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac" disables on its own. When I attempt to enable the feature again I get "Your Mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch..

The last time I had to perform a complete re-pairing of my Apple Watch with my phone to get the feature to function. Frankly that was an hour of my life I wish i could get back.

I am so ****** off at Apple over this simple feature that just keeps failing to perform. When will they address this issue that many of us have?!?

Well this actually addressed my latest issue. This is at least the third time I needed to re-establish my connection. It worked. Thank you!