Apple Watch unlocking Mac not working

I have found the only way that mine will work is if all my devices are on the 2.4 ghz wifi connection. If I have bluetooth on, on the phone it will not unlock. If I have matchbook on 5 ghz wifiand bluetooth on phone off it will work. But to make it work all the time, all devices have to be on same speed wifi Apple please fix the glitch that causes this.

I have this same issue with a late 2013 Mac Pro. I've had a series 0 and a Series 2 AppleWatch over the course of the last year, and a magic mouse. I also added an apple BT extended keyboard to the mix. After I reboot unlock with apple watch works for a couple days, then I just get a password prompt. I've found that if I plug in a USB mouse and use it to disable bluetooth then enable bluetooth, it works again for a couple days. I keep an old Dell mouse nearby for this purpose. I've tried a couple command line attempts at disabling BT, but none yielded the same result, or I'd just create a job to restart BT every night. I will give the airplane mode on/off a shot.

That isn't a glitch, your 2.4 and 5 connections are separate networks. If they are not on the same one they cannot see each other.

I have solved definitively the question Apple Watch e iMac not unlocking. The point is 2.4 ghz e 5 ghz. To have all working iPhone e iMac must have a 2.4 ghz connection because Apple Watch only works on 2.4 ghz so if one of tre devices is on 5 ghz the apple watch is too slow signaling is proximity and the unlock fall back to password.

With airport the fix is create two SSID one for 2.4 and on for 5 ghz and connect the iPhone and Mac to 2.4.

It works perfect.

I had the same problem, but in my case the feature worked after a reboot but then when I put my MacBook to sleep for sometime, upon waking up it stopped searching for Apple Watch and went to password right away instead.

So what helped, and I got this solution from Apple by phone, was clearing the list of Login Items in Users & Groups section of Settings. Some software there messed with the unlock feature. I'm guessing Parallels, Cinch, Punto or something else. Worked for me.

Do you have any Bluetooth devices connected to you Mac? I was having the same issues with the unlock feature, then I noticed the Bluetooth symbol in the menu bar was showing it was paired (three dots through the center of the symbol) even though I had nothing paired with my laptop. I opened Bluetooth preferences and deleted the two devices listed there that had been previously connected, but were not currently connected. After deleting these items, the Bluetooth symbol returned to its normal unpaired look, and the unlock feature started working 100%.

I then tried experimenting a little. First, I paired my Bose speaker. 100% failure, required my password every time. Next, I unpaired the speaker and paired an Apple Magic mouse. This resulted in about a 50% failure rate but always worked when I clicked cancel then tried logging back in. I have not tried any other devices or multiple like a mouse and keyboard.

I have both Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard paired. This feature is barely working. How lame could the auto-unlock be if you have to go back to USB mouse and keyboard to have it reliable. I think Apple has a lot more work to do to get it fixed.

EDIT: I turned off both wireless mouse/keyboard. Suddenly auto-unlock seems reliable with USB mouse/keyboard. Thanks for the tip, dgturc83. So, now I am thinking it has to due with Bluetooth itself on the iMac. I just toggled BT off and on, and will see if this may be the answer. A few tests have been A-OK. Will see if it is just temporary...

thanks so much

I had the same issue of first generation AppleWatch OS3 auto unlock feature working intermittently with late 2013 iMac Sierra 10.12.

I do use bluetooth mouse and keyboard. One of the possibilities might be related to Apple Watch screen being physically on. Tried it side by side Apple Watch unlocked on my wrist with screen off 50% rate of success, with screen on 100% chance of success. My guess it will be improved in the near future, but for now this might help.

I had the same problem on my 2015 iMac (with wireless mouse and keyboard) and after a bit of experimentation I found a way to make it work again: All I did was I turned on Airplane mode on my Apple Watch and when I turned it back off it started working again.

FTW... Thanks

My Unlocking with Apple Watch was working reliably until I paired a new AW2.

The unlocking was intermittent and then stopped working altogether. I tried everything, including restarting the AW numerous times, but to no avail.

I finally tried turning on the Airplane Mode and BAM...it is unlocking reliably again. Thanks!

all of the above have been unhelpful for me... I think mine stop working after flying with the devices (and putting them into airplane mode)... since then it tries to unlock the mac but fails after about 10 sec and just presents me with a password field... prior to this had been working like a dream 😟

I've tried all the usual advice and all my devices are on the same network, bluetooth is on etc etc. I followed advice here and unpaired all my other bluetooth devices, put watch into airplane mode and off again (and iPhone) but to no avail...

Any other suggestions would be most appreciated!