Auto Unlock with Apple Watch

In Beta 2 of Sierra combined with an Apple Watch (watch OS 3 Beta 2) its now possible to aktivate Auto Unlock. I've tried to activate the Checkbox on my iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) and a Error says, that the Mac couldnt find the Apple Watch. The Watch is on, unlocked and on my wrist. After reboot from Mac and Apple Watch, the option to enable Auto Unlock is not shown anymore.


Any ideas about?

Replies

So when you signed out of iCloud and then signed back in on both your phone and mac it started working?


I currently can't get it to show up at all in my Security & Privacy page. I have 2 Factor Authentication on, I signed out and back in on both devices, & everything should be working but the option for Auto Unlock with My Apple Watch doesn't show up at all.

One thing I realized is that when I go to my devices on my Apple ID it was showing my Apple Watch still running 2.1 rather than 3.0. I simply Removed My Apple Watch From My Account which forced it to remove it and then readd it a few minutes later, & then it was showing it was running watchOS 3.0 & then the option to use Auto-Unlock showed up in Security & Privacy after a few minutes.

I doubt WiFi speed has something to do with the auto unlock feature. The difference is: This is not a technical constraint but a marketing decision.


CD

Not showing up for me either no matter what I do. MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)


I've tried logging out of iCloud and back in on my Mac and rebooting. I initially had two step verification on, so I had to disable then and then setup to factor authentication, so I don't know if that has anythign to do with it. I have tried everything I can think of to spur it into seeing it all. I even changed my passcode on my watch from 4 to 6 numbers in case that was a requirement.


On my devices screen in prefs, it shows my watch as 3.0.

Early 2013 MBP Retina here as well. I sense a pattern?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)

What Macbook are you using? I'm on MBP early 2013. All devices show up in my device list as 3.0/10.0/10.12 (watch/iPhone/MBP). 2 factor authentication enabled. No option for auto unlock.

Maybe the public beta has a fix? Can anyone test it?

I have installed

* IOS 10 Beta 2

* MacOS Sierra Beta 2

* WatchOS 3 beta 2


I've activated Apple Two-Factor Authentication

but i don't have the Unlock with apple watch checkbox?


My Macbook: Macbook pro retina 2015

So, the beta update had turned off Handoff 😕

Turned it back on and the Unlock worked instantly

I can't get past the two-factor authentication part. I was told that I had to go to appleid.apple.com and turn off two-step authentication, then go to iCloud settings and turn on two-factor authentication. I did the first step, but in iCloud settings, I get an error message that it can't be turned on because "there was a problem connecting to iCloud."


EDIT: I should have tried signing out and back in before posting. That solved the issue. That being said, it would be great if Apple made the process more stable before the official release. Now I'm having the same issue as others, where the Unlock with Apple Watch checkbox is now gone, but I will try the recommendation of signing out on the iPhone/Watch, signing back in, then waiting a while.


EDIT 2: The option randomly came back, and was enabled successfully. I tested it and it unlocked my Mac just fine. Now I just hope it stays that way.

I'm also not seeing the setting. If I search for "watch" in System Preferences, I see "Allow Apple Watch to unlock the computer setting. Setting hidden if watch not paired." Clicking on that takes me to Security & Privacy | General.


I'm not sure what "paired" means. The watch is paired with my iPhone, but I don't know of any way to pair it with my Macbook Pro.

Same here. Early 2013 MBP 13" Retina. No option under Security and Privacy, although I also read somewhere the watch needs to be paired. Not clear if that's a manual process or is supposed to happen automatically, but there is definitely a pattern here.

same exact thing happend to me. 2015 rMBP 15"

I got it working by setting the 2FA in the Mac preferences then signing out and back in again on all my devices. You should also check the iCloud security screen on your iPhone to make sure it recognizes that 2FA is enabled. Once those are all in sync, reboot everything.


My issue is that having it actually unlock your Mac is a hit and miss. So far I have tried to show it off to 3 people here at office and on ALL 3 occasions it didn't work. However, when I tried it just before, it worked fine.


Of course when it doesn't work there is no way to tell why. I wish there was a way to determine why it didn't work so we can help solve the issues.


In order for this to be useful it MUST be more reliable.


I have noticed that in order for it to work your phone needs to be close by and UNLOCKED.


I had phone phone in my pocket locked with a passcode (like it usually is) and the auto unlock did not work. I tried several times. However, once I took my phone out of my pocket and unlocked it the auto unlock for the Mac started to work. Is this feature "unlock your mac with your Apple Watch" or "Unlock your Mac with your iPhone"?

Try unchecking handoff under System prefs> general> "Allow handoff between this mac and your iCloud Devices. Then restart your computer. Once the computer reboots, check that preference back on. This worked for me.