Re: Auto Unlock with Apple Watch

Had it working for a little while but needed me to disable 2 step authentication via web to then re-enable via System Preferences on mac. Then when signed out of iCloud on my iPhone to sign back in and get it recognised as a trusted device again, the watch option vanished from System Preferences and can't seem to get it back, even after signing back into everything again.

Would be interested to see if anyone else has this type of thing and can get the option to come back again. Was awesome for the 30 minutes while I had it working!

Can anyone explain the differences between the late 2012 iMac and the 2013 iMac. I have the late 2012, the first year the mac had the rounded back, and the checkbox does not show up in my Security settings. The documents specify that it is supported on 2013+ models. So what is so different?

This is from everymac.com:

Connectivity Differences

There is one important connectivity difference between the "Late 2012" and "Late 2013" iMac lines.

All of these systems have an SDXC-capable SD card slot, four USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports -- which support Mini DisplayPort output for two external displays up to 30" (2560x1600) as well as "Target Display Mode" via Thunderbolt -- one Gigabit Ethernet port (10/100/1000Base-T), one "headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack)" that also supports the Apple iPhone headset with microphone, and support for Bluetooth 4.0.

However, the "Late 2013" iMac systems also support 802.11ac Wi-Fi, whereas the "Late 2012" iMac systems only support slower "MIMO" 450 Mbit/sec 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi.

Auto Unlock does not work for me.

I have the option enabled in System Preferences and the Mac does attempt to unlock with Apple Watch but after 10 seconds the password input box shows awaiting me typing my password

Same here. I have Two-Factor Authentification enabled, my mac is trusted, iphone & apple watch also. Activated the option from security & privacy but it just says "unlocking mac with apple watch..." and after 10 or so seconds it promts me to enter my mac password.

I also got something strange. After adding my mac password in the sec&privacy it requested to pair with my watch, but the watch did not recieve any notification... A guidline would help Using macbook pro mid 2015

I was able to get this to work for me (mid-2015 15" Pro), however I had to enable 2-step authentication via my iPhone. When I tried on the Mac, it wanted me to change passwords and for some reason I couldn't get past that point. Once I did that, I was able to check off Unlock with Apple Watch. I never received any request to pair anything.

However, I turned off the feature because I noticed that once I unlocked once via the Apple Watch, I was no longer able to access anything to do with the internet (Safari, Chrome, FTP, etc...). I had to restart the system to resolve.

Hi friends.

I have same problem...

Have MacOS Sierra beta 2 but this option is "hidden"

My Apple Watch has WatchOS 3 beta 2 and iPhone 6s with iOS 10 beta 2

I use Macbook Air 11" Mid 2012

What is the solution?

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.

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.

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

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 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.

Was working great for me for a few days. Now it tries to unlock, times out, and presents the password box.  Tried all the usual toggling settings, rebooting devices, etc. and it consistently fails to actually unlock now. 

Yeterday it started unlocking my rMBP 15" when I walked nearby, even with the lid closed, so overall maybe it's not a bad thing that it isn't working for me right now...

Does anyone know why when Macbook is connected to Wi-Fi, Auto Unlock feature works fine, but does not work when connected to Ethernet? Never would have thought that the Internet Connection seems to be the reason why you can use this feature or not... So long as you allow 2FA on your devices to authenticate who is actually trying to log into the MacBook, which I assumed is the reason why we need to have 2FA working, not base it off of how you're connected to the Internet... Any thoughts or answers?

Watch unlock appears to require authentication through the same iCloud service used by Back to my Mac. I was able to get it working again by disabling and then re-enabling BTMM under the iCloud prefs. I note I have to do this especially often on my rMBP after changing locations (and the associated changes to Wifi and BTMM authentication).

Dissapointing to see that the late 2012 iMac models aren't deemed worthy of the feature. The interesting thing is though that if you search Apple watch in System Preferences search bar it shows the option is coded into System Prefs, just not something you can enable. Really hope they allow that in release. I don't beleive there to be any technical reason why they could not.

Ok...

I install MacOS Sierra 16A254g in my iMac 27" Late 2013 (i7 / 16Gb / GTX 780M / 3Tb fussion) but this auto-unlook options does´t appear... Have iPhone 6s with iOS 10 dev beta 3 and AppleWatch with WatchOS 3 beta 3 too

This started working perfectly (so far) in beta 5!

For me with Beta 5 is the same issue ... still be able to pair (maybe more easy) but it always ask for my password ...

if somebody find a way to debug I'm interested ...

I have iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) running 10.12 Beta (16A313a)

Apple Watch is running watchOS 3.0 Beta 6

I am able to pair but i am unable to unlock... all I get is that "unlocking with Apple Watch" and then it times out and reverts back to the Password box.

getting frustrated....

****UPDATE*****

Okay after a lot of messing around by removing two-factor, re-implementing two-factor, removing passcode from watch then putting it back on, rebooting watch, iMac & iPhone 6s then reimplementing unlock with watch feature multiple times some how with all of that it now works,

So for you guys and girls out there having this issue maybe give this a go.

Best of luck.

For those that can't see the unlock with Apple watch setting in the Settings & Privacy menu, make you that you are logged into your iCloud account on your watch.

On your iPhone, open the companion Watch app, tap My Watch → General → Apple ID and verify your Apple ID is showing.

I am having Macbook Pro Late 2012, and same thing happening with me.

I am not able to see the option in Security section.

What is the minimum requirement for this feature to work?

If you type "watch" in the search bar in System Preferences, you can see that the only result mentions "Setting is hidden if watch not paired".

I'm guessing the problem lies with iCloud detecting the paired watch, so I'm going to start by debugging that (unpairing and repairing etc).

Right after I changed my Apple ID Password the previously working Apple Watch Auto Unlock feature did not work and unckecking and re-checking the 'Allow Apple Watch to Unlock you Mac' checkbox in System Preferences/Privacy Settings relulted in an intermidably spinning animation until a dialog finally said the Mac could not communicate with the Watch. The cure was to unpair the Watch and re-pair it, setting it up as a new watch; setting it up from a backup did not work.

I don't know if this situation relates to the reason(s) for similar situations above but the method may be worth a try.

Had the same issue, https://davidroessli.com/logs/2016/09/allow_your_apple_watch_to_unlo/ answered it

I'm very confused here. All requirements here are ok but can't turn on auto unlock since the box isn't even there. Handoff ok, wifi ok, 2FP ok in all devices (applewatch series 2, McbookPro early 2015, Iphone 6 ), all systems up to date, tried sign in and out Icloud account with them all. Strangely at WIFI information screen there's no support to auto unlock. Mcbook is brand new, less than 30 days of use.  Any further ideas? Thnx!