Unable to use my Apple Watch to unlock my MacBook

Question

Level 1

6 points

Unable to use my Apple Watch to unlock my MacBook

Sharing a tip:

If you used to be able to unlock your locked desktop session with your Apple Watch and you have recently upgraded to Sequoia, like I did, you may have to toggle the Passcode option: Unlock with iPhone from the watch app. This might also be something under Sonoma but I can't test that.

You will sometimes find that opening System Preferences -> Touch ID and Password -> Apple Watch, you can not get the slider to stick to the On position. It may give you an error saying it could not connect with the watch. Sync will fail.

On the iPhone open the Watch App. Go to Settings and Passcode. Turn off Unlock with iPhone. Wait a moment and turn it back on. Your sync'd watch should ask you for a passcode. Enter the passcode that you use to unlock the watch without the phone.

On your Mac, Open System Preferences -> TouchID and Password -> Apple Watch. Click to turn the switch to the On position. It should stick now.

It is unknown what made it lose this connection, it may have happened during the upgrade but this fixed it for me.

[Re-Titled By Moderator]

Apple Watch Ultra 2, watchOS 11

Posted on Oct 1, 2024 9:32 AM

Reply

Answer 1

EricVN

Level 1

8 points

Oct 9, 2024 11:02 AM in response to Alan Ramos

I finally unpaired my Apple Watch Ultra 2 and paired it again, and my Mac will finally unlock. I'm still having an issue with my Watch unlocking my iPhone. As noted, my Watch always unlocked via the iPhone.

Reply

Answer 2

das865

Level 1

20 points

Oct 14, 2024 11:26 AM in response to Alan Ramos

I had the same problem. I had a Series 8 that unlocked my MBP M2 and upgraded it to a Series 10. It continued to unlock with no issues. After installing Sequoia and watchOS 11 it worked for a few hours then quit unlocking. Under Touch ID & Passwords in settings on my Mac, it had the name of my Series 8 listed and unlocking with it was turned on. The Series 10 was not there. I tried turning off the Series 8 then back on. It timed out with the “unable to communicate” message. I tried several suggestions from this and other forums with no luck. I figured out that my new watch was using the same name as my old one. So I gave my watch a new name. In the Watch app on iPhone, General > About > Name. Waited a few minutes for iCloud to sync, then opened up Touch ID & Password in settings on my Mac. The Series 8 name had been replaced with the new name. Turned on unlocking and it synced right away. No issues since. Hope this helps.

Reply

Answer 3

EricVN

Level 1

8 points

Oct 5, 2024 12:54 PM in response to Alan Ramos

Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. Nor the other ideas in Unable to unlock my MacBook Pro using App… - Apple Community. I may wait until the next update but will likely need to call support :(

Reply

Answer 4

Alan Ramos Author

Level 1

6 points

Oct 5, 2024 3:42 PM in response to EricVN

When you followed these steps- did your watch ask you for a passcode? If it didn't, can you confirm, before you did this, did the iPhone show a connection to the watch? Are you still able to unlock your watch with the iPhone instead of using a code to unlock the watch if you take it off and put it back on? I ask to see where your connection to the watch is failing.

Had my above steps not worked for me, I would have no choice but to try to rejoin the watch with my phone, but it did work for me so I didn't have to go the shotgun route. Sorry it didn't work for you!

Reply

Answer 5

EricVN

Level 1

8 points

Oct 5, 2024 5:55 PM in response to Alan Ramos

Yes, it asked for the passcode. Routinely, my watch unlocks when put on my wrist after I open my iPhone. I just did a test and it looks like my phone may fail to unlock if I prevent my faceid from working (ie. I get prompted for a passcode). So looks like I cannot unlock my phone although the setting is enabled (I did try toggling it as well) and I cannot enable the setting on my Mac (failure message about syncing).

Reply

Answer 6

Alan Ramos Author

Level 1

6 points

Oct 5, 2024 6:47 PM in response to EricVN

Im curious. Do all you id login work? Do you have issues anywhere else? Do you have some Face IDs work and others don't accept it? I'm not necessarily suggesting g you reset I'm just trying to pin point some id failure here. I sympathize with this issue and maybe I was lucky?

Reply

Answer 7

EricVN

Level 1

8 points

Oct 6, 2024 4:49 AM in response to Alan Ramos

I haven't run into any other issues besides the Watch not unlocking the Mac (and yesterday noticing the Watch not unlocking my iPhone). Everything else appears normal. Right now my unlocking is FaceID works fine on the phone and the Touch ID works fine on the Mac. My Watch is typically unlocked because I've unlock my phone after I put the Watch on my wrist in the morning so it's unlocked. I plan to unregistered and register my watch this evening.

Reply

Answer 8

suite156

Level 1

15 points

Nov 25, 2024 1:40 AM in response to Alan Ramos

I have 2 Watches: series 6 and series 10. The series 6 is listed in preferences (and also an apple watch series 1, which I can't remove).

The series 10 is not listed in preferences > Touch ID and passwords

It is listed in the watch app on my iPhone (16 pro max).

watch and iOS are updated to latest OS.

MacOS = Sonoma 15=4.6.1

Why can't I add my new series 10?

Reply

Answer 9

suite156

Level 1

15 points

Nov 25, 2024 3:06 AM in response to suite156

UPDATE: apparently the series 1 was the series 10. I changed the nam of both watches. Series 10 was updated In macOS. series 6 was not. but at least I'm able to use both to unlock

could not update the original message.

Reply

Answer 10

suite156

Level 1

15 points

Nov 25, 2024 3:05 AM in response to das865

thx for the change name tip. did it for me

Reply