Apple Watch not unlocking Mac (resolved)

Did one more step:

Turned Use Touch ID to ON

Turned Apple Watch to ON

Closed Settings

Put MacBook to Sleep

Woke MacBook

Unlocked with Apple Watch

Restarted

Logged on with credentials

Opened Settings

Opened Touch ID & Password

NOW Use Touch ID and

Apple Watch are set to ON

The system settings were retained.

Resolved.

Hi,

I'd like to thank you and all the others for the various tips. At the moment the issue is fixed on my iMac although I'm not sure which bit did it. For a short period of time nothing worked so I accepted it and then suddenly the watch is unlocking the screen again... I found that the switching off and then on again the 'Unlock your applications and your Mac using Apple Watch' setting helped immediately (although initially it only worked until the iMac was shut down). In any case, it's fine now and I'm very grateful for all the advice. Thank you!

WatchOS 11.3.1 update sorted it - works perfectly now - thanks for the help

In Ventura 13.7.6 you have to go to Settings>LoginPassword to access this, there is no option of Touch ID and password - this should come up in regular Apple instructions

I had the same problem but for some reason had the suspicion that my watch might be trying to communicate with other devices. I have an iPad on my desk all the time. I switched the iPad off and then did the sync again. Now all works as intended.

-Paul-

I had the same or similar experience after Sequoia 15.2. This article helped me fix the issue using the following steps.

1. On the Mac go to SETTINGS > Login Password > toggle Apple Watch setting to ON.
2. Entered my Mac's user password.
3. Tested.

I hope this helps, I was going nuts trying to figure out why my Mac would not unlock while wearing my Apple Watch.

Some of you might appreciate knowing this. When you go into energy settings and turn on “Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off," your Apple Watch WILL unlock your Mac even after extended periods of non-use.

• Preventing sleep is important:

If your Mac is set to sleep immediately when the display turns off, your Apple Watch might not be able to trigger the Apple Watch unlock function due to the lack of active connection. 

This worked for me but had to restart watch, iphone and computer and enabled auto unlock a couple of times.

Thank you!

I tried a number of things including:

• Turning Use Apple Watch to unlock your Mac off/on multiple times
• Restarting Mac
• Turning Apple Watch off and on

But the very last thing I did before it actually worked was turning Use Touch ID to unlock your Mac off and back on

I clicked Me too because I experienced the same issue except upon a Restart the setting is disabled again on the MacBook. MacOS is at Sequoia 15.1.1 and the settings fail to persist. 

Opened Settings and Touch ID & Password

I turned Use Touch ID to OFF

Restarted

Turned Unlock with Apple Watch to ON

Syncing appeared

Exited Settings

Put the MacBook to Sleep

Woke the MacBook from Sleep

MacBook Unlocked with AppleWatch.

Restarted the MacBook 

Logged on using credentials

Opened Settings and Touch ID & Password

Both Use Touch ID to unlock your Mac and

Apple Watch are set to OFF

I expected Use Touch ID to be OFF but not, Apple Watch.

Turned Apple Watch to ON.

Logon with credentials appeared

Entered credentials

Syncing appeared

Quit Settings

Restarted

Logged on with credentials

Opened Settings

Opened Touch ID & Password

Apple Watch is turned OFF.

Still not resolved.

Hi bgparsons3! I have also experienced what you described. It's as if the "handshake" between the Mac and Watch fails to complete in the alloted time so the system defaults to manually entering the security code. It's possible something is interfering with the bluetooth/wifi connection between the Mac and Watch. On some Macs, the Bluetooth radio is close to the USB ports and devices connected to those posts could be interfering with the Watch-Mac connection. If it's not totally inconvenient, you could experiment by temporarily removing as many devices from the USB ports as possible...all devices if you can. Then see if your Watch unlocks your Mac. If it works, then start to add back devices one at a time, checking to see if the Watch still unlocks your Mac. Proceed until you find an offending device OR PORT. It is possible the interference is not from a connected device but one of the USB ports. For example, on pre Apple Silicon Mac Mini's, like the 2018 Intel Mac Mini, the USB port at the back left of the Mini (as you look at the Mini from the Front) was known to cause problems with the Watch unlocking the Mini. The solution was to not use that USB port. Not ideal. But it worked. Here's another idea that is completely random and I have never heard of it being used before. Full confession, I just thought of it while writing the above thesis! 1) Go into your Mac's settings and turn OFF the Unlock my Mac feature on your Mac. 2) Change the password on your Mac. 3) Restart your Mac 4) After using your new password, go into your Mac's settings and turn back on "Unlock my Mac with Apple Watch." Let it go through the syncing process. Pray harder than in the past. 😂 P.S. Since the "changing password" idea takes less time than the USB port procedure you might want to try that first. As they say in the X-Files," The Truth Is Out There." What is that truth? I haven't a clue. And so we continue to experiment. 💪

I have done everything listed but a hard reset. Fingers crossed and all that but I did that (side button and crown depressed until reboot) and now I have gotten a couple of unlocks. Maybe it's resolved?

Yeah, same here

The switch off "Touch ID" worked for me immediately

1 switch off Touch ID. all the switches

2 Switch on the Apple Watch direct got the contact with my watch.

3 switch Touch ID back on... all is good now

Thanks for this! I was able to do this without the sleeping/shutdown/restart step in (2).

Definitely worked for me. MBP 14 (M1 Pro) Ventura 13.7.8. and AppleWatch 9. Followed everything here to the letter and resolved my issue. Thanks for the tip!