Apple Watch not unlocking Mac (resolved)

Running a Mac mini with a wireless KB with no Touch ID, so Touch ID doesn't appear in System Settings. I've ensured that I've got a match on WiFi networks, Bluetooth is on, etc. Just upgraded to Sequoia 15.3 and it doesn't offer the option to connect using Apple Watch...

Where in system settings are you looking for for the option to connect?

It's a toggle in "Login Password" which is on the list of selections directly below "Privacy & Security"

To be clear, I do not have touch ID either, so that is not part of your issue.

I've tried all the above, but still can't get the watch to unlock the Mac. It used to until a few days ago. Did the keychain stuff, checked the wifi across the devices, restarted the watch and the mac, did the touch id toggle. Nothing working.

Hopefully there is a bug somewhere that gets sorted out, otherwise this neat bit of functionality is gone for me at least.

Tony

This recipe did not work for me.

One additional symptom for me - "Unlocking with Apple Watch" message appears briefly, and then disappears and is replaced by box to type password. This worked seamlessly until a couple of weeks ago.

Apple Watch Series 10, iMac 2019 - all up to date software

Thanks for the suggestion! No it's not an auto-logout problem - happens even when I manually click lock screen and try to unlock immediately. I had tried hard reset but tried again per your instructions and still same problem. On the unlock process starting, I see "Unlocking with Apple Watch" for maybe 1 second, then it disappears and wants the password. Other Mac/Watch integration works fine - installed a new app and was able to use the double-click button on watch to enable install instead of entering password on the mac. Any other ideas?

Hi pdb206, My fingers are crossed for you. A hard reset (forced restart, reboot) can often fix problems if some janky, bad code pollutes your device as it will often remove the offending bits and bytes. 🤞

I am having this issue with an apple watch 10 and Mac book air m3. The issue is only with safari and no other browser with the autofill and the passwords app. I have tried the items mentioned before however they have not worked any thoughts?

I also tried to search for that app on the watch and it seems it is not on the watch. This seems to be an odd one as chrome seems to work fine but the safari browser or password app seems to be where the disconnect is unless anyone else has had this issue.

The solutions presented in this thread are for the watch unlocking the computer. It has nothing to do with the apps on your computer.

That said, there is no password requirement for Safari. However, in the private browsing mode, you can protect it with a password. You don't mention private browsing but it sounds to me like your Safari is opening in private browsing that you have protected with a password. If that is the case, then you can delete the password for private browsing. That is found in Safari->Settings->privacy.

If this is not the case then I wish you luck finding a solution.

I had the Apple Watch unlocking the screen on my Mac mini running 15.5, i changed to a new wifi environment. The new wifi IS NOT CONNECTED to the internet, just as a bridge to connect the Mac mini and the Apple Watch. Tried many times and the error msg is the same “mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch…..”.

Does the wifi bridging the 2 devices have to be connected to the internet ???

Thank you for posting this solution! When it stopped working I realized how much I depended on this feature, and I was frustrated for weeks; I kept going to settings and turning it off and on, with no results. Three cheers! I love it when I can search this community for a problem and find a solution that works like a charm.

I was having the same issue - This solution worked for me. Thanks

This worked for me until it didn't. I have to do this every couple of days to be able to unlock with my watch. Searching for a permanet solution. (Macos 14.7.1. Safari 18.1.1)

Same

Have no idea why the iWatch was greyed out as it was working perfectly but your solution worked. Thanks 👍

This proposed solution worked flawlessly, thank you. This is such a cool feature, I was getting worried it wouldn't work after the latest OS update.