Unlocking MacBook with Apple Watch

Question

Level 1

8 points

Unlocking MacBook with Apple Watch

Hey all,

I read somewhere that you could unlock a MacBook with an Apple Watch. I am using a MacBook (Mojave) and an Apple Watch Series 3. However, I am unable to do it. On the internet, it says there is a checkbox under System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General, but I don't have it. Then it said something about making my Apple Watch a "trusted device". When I go to System Preferences > iCloud > Account Details > Devices, it says "This device cannot be used to receive Apple ID verification codes." Is this the reason why I cannot unlock my MacBook using my Apple Watch? How can I actually use my Apple Watch to unlock my MacBook?

MacBook, macOS Mojave (10.14)

Posted on Oct 18, 2018 11:48 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Oct 19, 2018 11:35 PM in response to dzho

Good afternoon dzho,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!

I understand you would like to use your Apple Watch Series 3 to unlock your MacBook with macOS Mojave installed. The resource below explains the requirements for doing this. It sounds from your description that you do not have two-factor authentication turned on for your Apple ID. The resource explains how to change that.
How to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch

How to set up Auto Unlock

Make sure that your Mac and Apple Watch meet the system requirements for this feature:

Apple Watch using watchOS 3 or later.

Mid-2013 or newer Mac using macOS Sierra or later.
Using Auto Unlock with Apple Watch Series 3 and later requires macOS High Sierra.

Make sure that your Apple ID is using two-factor authentication instead of two-step verification.
Learn how to switch from two-step verification to two-factor authentication.

Make sure that your devices are set up as follows:

Your Mac has Bluetooth turned on.

Your Mac has Wi-Fi turned on.

Your Mac and Apple Watch are signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID.
On your Mac, choose Apple () menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app, then go to General > Apple ID.

Your Apple Watch is using a passcode.
On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app, then tap Passcode.

Your Mac isn't using Internet sharing or screen sharing.

Your Mac has ”Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac” selected in Security & Privacy preferences.
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then select the General tab.

If you're not sure whether your Mac supports Auto Unlock, press and hold the Option key while choosing Apple menu > System Information. Select Wi-Fi in the sidebar, then look for ”Auto Unlock: Supported” on the right:

Take care.

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Answer 2

dzho Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 19, 2018 11:34 PM in response to Teddy_B

Thank you for sharing this article.

No, I am using 2-factor Authentication. My Mac supports Auto-Unlock (I have checked many times over). This is what my system preferences page looks like. It is missing 2 options: one is auto-unlock and the other is automatic login. The second option mysteriously vanished yesterday. I tried setting up FileVault (thinking it might help me unlock my Mac with my watch) but that didn't help either. And when I search for "watch" the option to unlock Mac with my Apple Watch appears. When I click it, it takes me here (and the option to unlock my Mac with my Apple Watch is missing). Is this feature available in all countries? I live in the United Arab Emirates, where FaceTime is currently unavailable, as is Walkie Talkie. I'm just giving you more data; I don't know if it is relevant, or if it will help at all. Can anything at all be done?

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Answer 3

Oct 20, 2018 6:47 AM in response to dzho

Hi dzho,

What does it show in the System Information for your Mac?

If you're not sure whether your Mac supports Auto Unlock, press and hold the Option key while choosing Apple menu > System Information.
Select Wi-Fi in the sidebar, then look for ”Auto Unlock: Supported” on the right:
Unless "Supported" is showing, there is no further troubleshooting that can be done for this issue:

Take care,

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Answer 4

Nov 4, 2018 2:01 PM in response to jdoom

If settings are disappearing, there seems to be a problem or corruption lurking here.

Make sure you have current and complete backups, on the off chance that this is a hardware problem.

Then... Download and run and cut-and-paste and post the output report from Etrecheck, as a start:

https://www.etrecheck.com/

That’ll include (anonymized) configuration details. Maybe some cause will show up in the data there, too.

The Wi-Fi is set to US, which seems odd for UAE given differences in at least 2.4 GHz channels...

https://www.juniper.net/documentation/hardware/netscreen-appliances/5gtwireless/ wireless_channels.pdf

Also consider interference, though that doesn’t usually show up as disappearing settings:

Potential sources of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth interference - Apple Support

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Answer 5

dzho Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 4, 2018 10:01 PM in response to MrHoffman

Here's the report:

EtreCheck version: 5.0.1 (5014)

Report generated: 2018-11-05 09:58:34

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 2:43

Performance: Excellent

Sandbox: Enabled

Full drive access: Disabled

Problem: Other problem

Description:

The setting to unlock my Mac with Apple Watch has disappeared. More recently, the setting to disable automatic login has also disappeared. Am I losing settings?

Major Issues: None

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Unsigned files- There are unsigned software files installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

32-bit Apps- This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.

Hardware Information:

MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)

MacBook Model: MacBook8,1

1 1.2 GHz Intel Core M (M-5Y51) CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM - Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 334

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 5300 - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 2560 x 1600

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE SSD AP0512H 500.28 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

Internal PCI-Express 5.0 GT/s x4 NVM Express

disk0s1 - EFI [EFI] 315 MB

disk0s2 [APFS Container] 301.01 GB

disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 301.01 GB (Shared by 4 volumes)

disk1s1 - Macintosh HD (APFS) (Shared - 176.77 GB used)

disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared)

disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared)

disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 1.07 GB used)

disk0s3 - B******P 197.98 GB (106.48 GB used)

disk0s4 968 MB

Mounted Volumes:

disk0s3 - B******P 197.98 GB (91.51 GB free)

Mount point: /Volumes/B******P

disk1s1 - Macintosh HD 301.01 GB (122.46 GB free)

APFS

Mount point: /

Encrypted

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] (Shared - 1.07 GB used)

APFS

Mount point: /private/var/vm

Network:

Interface en1: USB Ethernet

Interface en4: iPad

Interface en0: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Interface en3: iPhone

Interface en2: Bluetooth PAN

System Software:

macOS Mojave 10.14 (18A391)

Time since boot: About 2 hours

Security:

System Status

Gatekeeper Enabled

System Integrity Protection Enabled

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool .plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

32-bit Applications:

9 32-bit apps

Kernel Extensions:

/Applications/Wondershare Filmora.app

SystemAudioRecorder.kext (1.1.0 - SDK 10.6)

/Library/Extensions

Soundflower.kext (MATT INGALLS, 2.0b2 - SDK 10.10)

/System/Library/Extensions

Fantom.kext (1.1.1)

Startup Items:

Fantom Path: /Library/StartupItems/Fantom

System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] 9 Apple tasks

[Loaded] 166 Apple tasks

[Running] 124 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded] 35 Apple tasks

[Loaded] 188 Apple tasks

[Running] 112 Apple tasks

[Other] One Apple task

Launch Agents:

[Loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist ((null) - installed 2018-06-28)

[Loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-10-19)

[Other] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-14)

[Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-15)

Launch Daemons:

[Loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-09-22)

[Loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-14)

[Loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-15)

[Loaded] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.bstservice_helper.plist (BlueStack Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-06-20)

[Running] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-10-19)

[Loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (? fa56dec8 - installed 2018-06-28)

[Loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-04-09)

[Loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-14)

User Launch Agents:

[Other] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (G7HH3F8CAK - installed 2018-10-26)

[Loaded] com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist (Skype Communications S.a.r.l - installed 2017-12-25)

User Login Items:

Wondershare Helper Compact (? - installed 2016-12-24)

(~/Library/Application Support/Helper/Wondershare Helper Compact.app/Contents/MacOS/Wondershare Helper Compact)

Internet Plug-ins:

FlashPlayer-10.6: 31.0.0.122 (installed 2018-10-10)

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-09-21)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2018-10-23)

AdobePDFViewer: 19.008.20080 (installed 2018-10-23)

Flash Player: 31.0.0.122 (installed 2018-10-10)

jdk: (installed 2018-10-01)

Silverlight: 5.1.41212.0 (installed 2017-01-06)

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 10.0.2 build 13 (installed 2018-10-02)

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (installed 2018-09-22)

Java (installed 2018-10-01)

Time Machine:

Time Machine information not available without Full Drive Access.

Performance:

System Load: 1.19 (1 min ago) 1.85 (5 min ago) 1.78 (15 min ago)

Nominal I/O speed: 0.41 MB/s

File system: 38.59 seconds

Write speed: 331 MB/s

Read speed: 827 MB/s

CPU Usage:

Type Overall Individual cores

System 3 % 6 % 1 % 3 % 1 %

User 3 % 8 % 1 % 4 % 1 %

Idle 94 % 86 % 98 % 92 % 99 %

Top Processes by CPU:

Process (count) Source CPU Location

Other processes ? 15.77 %

EtreCheck App Store 7.26 %

SystemUIServer Apple 0.25 %

com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (3) Apple 0.22 %

com.apple.WebKit.Networking (2) Apple 0.18 %

Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count) Source RAM usage Location

EtreCheck App Store 639 MB

Dock Apple 255 MB

Mail Apple 146 MB

Dropbox ? 141 MB ~/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app

AppleSpell Apple 121 MB

Top Processes by Network Use:

Process Source Input Output Location

mDNSResponder Apple 629 KB 111 KB

Mail Apple 161 KB 19 KB

IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent Apple 15 KB 11 KB

apsd Apple 11 KB 12 KB

netbiosd Apple 7 KB 3 KB

Virtual Memory Information:

Available RAM 3.59 GB

Free RAM 67 MB

Used RAM 4.41 GB

Cached files 3.53 GB

Swap Used 0 B

Software Installs (past 30 days):

Name Version Install Date

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (19.008.20074) 2018-10-09

Adobe Flash Player 2018-10-10

The Cube 4.4.1 2018-10-12

Microsoft Excel for Mac 2018-10-17

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 2018-10-17

Microsoft AutoUpdate 2018-10-19

Microsoft Word for Mac 2018-10-20

WhatsApp 0.3.1242 2018-10-23

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (19.008.20080) 2018-10-23

Gatekeeper Configuration Data 156 2018-10-31

OneDrive 18.175.0826 2018-11-03

EtreCheck 5.0.1 2018-11-05

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

Directory /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports is not accessible without Full Drive Access.

End of report

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Answer 6

Nov 5, 2018 7:29 AM in response to dzho

Have current and complete badkups, first.

Nothing obvious in the report, though I do see several packages that I’d consider temporarily removing and then running some testing; Bluestacks, Wondershare, Soundflower, and Fantom.

As an alternative to removing these and potentially other bits and then testing, install Mojave on an external scratch device, and boot and test unlocking with that. That’ll determine if it’s hardware or a general problem in the environment such as interference or maybe a problem with the watch, or if it’s something in your current Mojave install. Which might narrow which haystack needs further searching...

Take a look in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports for any recent logs there, too. (The MAS Etrecheck you’re using can’t peek in there, though what can be seen from a sandboxed app still surprises me.)

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Answer 7

dzho Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 20, 2018 9:25 AM in response to CarlosP1228

No, it is supported. I have checked, many times over.

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Answer 8

jdoom

Level 1

4 points

Nov 4, 2018 1:26 PM in response to Teddy_B

I have all of the above steps completed. In fact, my setup worked perfectly before Mojave. My guess is there is a glitch in Mojave because nothing seems to work.

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[Not Loaded]	9 Apple tasks
[Loaded]	166 Apple tasks
[Running]	124 Apple tasks

[Not Loaded]	35 Apple tasks
[Loaded]	188 Apple tasks
[Running]	112 Apple tasks
[Other]	One Apple task

[Loaded]	com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist ((null) - installed 2018-06-28)
[Loaded]	com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-10-19)
[Other]	com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-14)
[Loaded]	com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-15)

[Loaded]	com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-09-22)
[Loaded]	com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-14)
[Loaded]	com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-15)
[Loaded]	com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.bstservice_helper.plist (BlueStack Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-06-20)
[Running]	com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2018-10-19)
[Loaded]	com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (? fa56dec8 - installed 2018-06-28)
[Loaded]	com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-04-09)
[Loaded]	com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-14)

[Other]	com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (G7HH3F8CAK - installed 2018-10-26)
[Loaded]	com.skype.skype.shareagent.plist (Skype Communications S.a.r.l - installed 2017-12-25)

Type	Overall	Individual cores
System	3 %	6 %	1 %	3 %	1 %
User	3 %	8 %	1 %	4 %	1 %
Idle	94 %	86 %	98 %	92 %	99 %

Process (count)	Source	CPU	Location
Other processes	?	15.77 %
EtreCheck	App Store	7.26 %
SystemUIServer	Apple	0.25 %
com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (3)	Apple	0.22 %
com.apple.WebKit.Networking (2)	Apple	0.18 %

Process (count)	Source	RAM usage	Location
EtreCheck	App Store	639 MB
Dock	Apple	255 MB
Mail	Apple	146 MB
Dropbox	?	141 MB	~/Library/Application Support/Dropbox/Dropbox.app
AppleSpell	Apple	121 MB

Process	Source	Input	Output	Location
mDNSResponder	Apple	629 KB	111 KB
Mail	Apple	161 KB	19 KB
IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent	Apple	15 KB	11 KB
apsd	Apple	11 KB	12 KB
netbiosd	Apple	7 KB	3 KB

Available RAM	3.59 GB
Free RAM	67 MB
Used RAM	4.41 GB
Cached files	3.53 GB
Swap Used	0 B

Name	Version	Install Date
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (19.008.20074)	2018-10-09
Adobe Flash Player	2018-10-10
The Cube	4.4.1	2018-10-12
Microsoft Excel for Mac	2018-10-17
Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac	2018-10-17
Microsoft AutoUpdate	2018-10-19
Microsoft Word for Mac	2018-10-20
WhatsApp	0.3.1242	2018-10-23
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (19.008.20080)	2018-10-23
Gatekeeper Configuration Data	156	2018-10-31
OneDrive	18.175.0826	2018-11-03
EtreCheck	5.0.1	2018-11-05

Unlocking MacBook with Apple Watch

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