I cannot see "Allow your Apple Watch to Unlock Your Mac"

You're welcome! 🙂

After 24 hours of setting it all up- I got a notice on my computer about my "new apple watch" (not new) using my apple ID and phone number.

I checked the security prefs, and the option was visible for me to enable.

it's pretty sweet.

I had to switch from two-step to two-factor authentication. After that was completed the "unlock with watch" option disappeared. I had to sign out of iCloud on my Mac and iPhone and re-authenticate using two-factor, then the watch had to be activated. Once my Mac, iPhone and watch had logged in to iCloud using two-factor the option to login with watch reappeared. It's now working as ex-extend.

I have the same problem but I have not found any answer to work to fix the problem.

This worked. Many thanks!!!

I have the same problem. The weird thing is, it worked for my macbook pro, but didnt work on my macbook air. I' m pretty much sure that i did all the steps right. Could anyone say what else could be the source of this problem?

Late 2015 iMac, check.

Apple ID flipped to 2-factor... check.

Both signed onto the same iCloud account... always!

Brand new watch, has passcode, check.

Handoff turned on for Mac and iPhone 7... check.

Watch, phone, computer, all unlocked... check.

Bluetooth and wifi turned on for Mac and Phone... check.

No option in Security for allowing watch. Just not showing up. 😟

Try deleting the iwatch from your devices in the Apple ID web page. See if it appears with the iOS 2 instead of 3.

Hope that help

manageappleid.com is a malicious/phishing site. DO NOT give your credentials here. The correct site is https://appleid.apple.com

I have this same issue.

I had this same issue. It WAS working and then all of sudden I noticed it wasn't, so I checked the settings and the option wasn't even shown anymore. Yesterday, I got a notification asking if I wanted to turn it on. Out of nowhere. I have no idea why it stopped working or why it suddenly started working again.

Bryan Buff wrote:

I had this same issue. It WAS working and then all of sudden I noticed it wasn't, so I checked the settings and the option wasn't even shown anymore. Yesterday, I got a notification asking if I wanted to turn it on. Out of nowhere. I have no idea why it stopped working or why it suddenly started working again.

It may have been a problem with the paired iPhone. The option to unlock the Mac will vanish, if the iPhone is no longer paired with watch. In that case try to unpair the watch and pair it again.

I have a late 2012 iMac - what's missing on that system that's preventing the apple watch unlocking from working?

It is the network card. You can check the type of card in your Mac in the system profile, see this user tip: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-10672

Some users here managed to upgrade the Mac so it supports Automatic unlock by replacing the network card.

I have this exact problem also on the 2015 iMac. The use watch to unlock option is no longer presented.

Add to this, when I logged out of my iCloud account on my iMac as part of moving from 2 Step to 2 Factor and logged back in, all of my contacts DOUBLED. Since I tried this twice, it went to 4 copies of each contact. Using the Remove Duplicates tool only brought me back to 2 duplicates. This is crazy.

Probably going to contact Apple support when I have time.