Oliver Matuschin

Q: Login using Apple Watch not working

I cannot activate the functionality to log in using the Apple Watch. When I check the checkbox I only get a message stating that I needed to activate the 2 factor authentication. But it is already activated. Is someone else also experiencing this issue?

 

Thanks
Oli

iMac

Posted on Sep 20, 2016 2:57 PM

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Q: Login using Apple Watch not working

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  • by Tuslareb,

    Tuslareb Tuslareb Sep 22, 2016 12:15 PM in response to Oliver Matuschin
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 22, 2016 12:15 PM in response to Oliver Matuschin

    Even with two factor authentication enabled it will only work sometimes in my experience so far. I turned it on as soon as Sierra was available yesterday and I have 1 watch login so far, this against 15 times entering my password.

  • by BevMeister,

    BevMeister BevMeister Sep 22, 2016 6:24 PM in response to Oliver Matuschin
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 22, 2016 6:24 PM in response to Oliver Matuschin

    Yep this whole experience and set up are poorly documented.  I lost the dialogue box "Allow Apple Watch to unlock your Mac".  I eventually recovered it by trying a few things after setting up Two Factor verification.

    1. I restarted all devices numerous times and signed in and out on my iMac and iPhone.

    2. I signed in with my Apple ID on my watch. On iOS, go to Watch>General>Apple ID and sign in there

    3. Tried Pairing with my iMac and Apple Watch.  It didn't pair but after I tried and failed, I then went into System Prefs>Security and the dialogue box was finally there.

     

    For something that is supposed to be "magical", it is a world of annoyance and I can't see any but the most stubborn user getting this to work. For a marquee feature, it's positively Microsoft-esque.

     

    Let's see how stable it is and how many times I have to reset etc.  Good luck.

  • by Tuslareb,

    Tuslareb Tuslareb Sep 25, 2016 6:33 AM in response to Tuslareb
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 6:33 AM in response to Tuslareb

    In addition to my own answer I can say that I expected the watch to log me into to my account after logging out and coming back to my Mac. This is not what auto-unlock does. It only unlocks the Mac after waking from sleep while already logged into your account.

     

    This works fine until now. So to everyone who is experiencing trouble, please consider that auto-unlock doesn't completely do what you might think it does.

  • by gsjones,

    gsjones gsjones Oct 6, 2016 5:53 AM in response to Oliver Matuschin
    Level 1 (28 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 5:53 AM in response to Oliver Matuschin

    It doesn't work.  More empty promises, so typical of developers.

  • by Joseph Delaney,

    Joseph Delaney Joseph Delaney Oct 6, 2016 7:44 AM in response to gsjones
    Level 3 (853 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 6, 2016 7:44 AM in response to gsjones

    It does work in many cases. It's not an "empty promise", but there is a bug that affects some machines and not others.

     

    There's a complex interaction between multiple components, so experience varies. Other things may impact it that Apple has no way of testing (wifi routers from other companies, radio interference from landline phones, etc). I have one Mac where it works almost every time, and another Mac where it only works sometimes. Apple engineers are aware of the problem and working on it.

     

    For me with the problem computer, turning Bluetooth off on my phone, waiting a moment, then turning it back on again gets it all working again for a while. Which is inconvenient and not meant as a practical fix - but it does show that this is a transient problem that can be fixed eventually.

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