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Apple Watch Auto Unlock Questions [MERGED]

Hi all,

was just wondering if anyone can help me fix this little issue I am having. Auto-Unlock with Apple Watch doesn't seem to be working on my Mid-2013 MacBook Air.

i received a notification saying that I could use Auto-Unlock and the option has been selected so don't understand why its not working.

Help please?
 
This feature definitely use Bluetooth to "Ping" your watch and unlock the Mac. I was able to activate the Mac unlock feature with no problem but I could not get it to actually unlock my Mac. I noticed the Bluetooth symbol in the menu bar showed my Mac was paired with a device (three dots through the center of the symbol) even though I had no devices connected. I opened Bluetooth Preferences and confirmed no devices were connected, but there were two devices in the list from previous pairings (a speaker and mouse showing disconnected) I deleted both of these items from the list and the Bluetooth symbol showed it wasn't paired anymore. I then closed my laptop, waited for the Mac to go to sleep, opened it up and viola, it logged in right away from my watch! I then tried this a few more times with 100% success.

I decided to experiment a little. First, I paired my Bose speaker, and my Mac would not unlock from my watch at all, it would fail and require my password every time! I then unpaired the speaker and paired an Apple Magic Mouse, and have about a 50% success rate. Most of the time it fails, but if I cancel and re-wake the mac it works. I haven't tried with third party mice or other Bluetooth devices.
 
This feature definitely use Bluetooth to "Ping" your watch and unlock the Mac. I was able to activate the Mac unlock feature with no problem but I could not get it to actually unlock my Mac. I noticed the Bluetooth symbol in the menu bar showed my Mac was paired with a device (three dots through the center of the symbol) even though I had no devices connected. I opened Bluetooth Preferences and confirmed no devices were connected, but there were two devices in the list from previous pairings (a speaker and mouse showing disconnected) I deleted both of these items from the list and the Bluetooth symbol showed it wasn't paired anymore. I then closed my laptop, waited for the Mac to go to sleep, opened it up and viola, it logged in right away from my watch! I then tried this a few more times with 100% success.

I decided to experiment a little. First, I paired my Bose speaker, and my Mac would not unlock from my watch at all, it would fail and require my password every time! I then unpaired the speaker and paired an Apple Magic Mouse, and have about a 50% success rate. Most of the time it fails, but if I cancel and re-wake the mac it works. I haven't tried with third party mice or other Bluetooth devices.
 
13" MBP Early 2015 + Sierra

42mm stainless watch + Watch OS 3

iPhone 5S + iOS 10

I keep getting the error "Your Mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch"

2FA is enabled, handoff works, with a locked watch I get the error message that I should unlock my watch and retry, so the devices do seem to communicate.

I tried pretty much everything mentioned here. Created a new user account on my mac, signed off and on to iCloud on all devices, unpaired and repaired my watch, even set it up as a new watch instead of restoring from backup. Turning handoff off and on again, disabling FileVault nothing worked for me so far. I also reset Bluetooth on my Mac and cleared my iPhone's network settings. No go.
 
lauramayer said:
2013 MacBook?! Wow....that's really old. I change my MacBook or iMac every 2 years. 2 years are long...but 3 years. Wow. Maybe it's because your MacBook is too old for this feature.
Click to expand...
Mine's a mid-2012 MBP, so I won't get to enjoy this feature until I upgrade. And as nicely as my MBP is running these days, it still might be a while.

dgturc83 said:
This feature definitely use Bluetooth to "Ping" your watch and unlock the Mac.
Click to expand...

Yup. It can measure the time delay and figure out the distance between the watch and the computer.
 
Four oF NINE said:
I may post a separate thread about this issue, but I learned much to my chagrin that I cannot use the SMS authentication to engage this feature, which is really annoying because I was looking forward to that.

Why would Apple require I go to the inherently LESS secure system of security questions instead of the multiple device system where they send me a SMS 4 digit text code for authentication? I DESPISE that entire security Q & A routine. It's clunky and outdated, AND requires that I add these questions and answers into my password manager.

Stupid stupid stupid!
Click to expand...
That's not how 2FA works. The security questions are only for if you forget your password. 2FA sends you a six digit code in a popup, which according to Apple is more secure because it only shows up on your listed trusted devices.
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Four oF NINE said:
I refuse to revert to two factor verification, as appealing as using the Watch proximity to bypass the password requirement to unlock the MacBooks. It's a less secure and clunky system. Apple tech support was unable to provide a coherent explanation for this requirement.
Click to expand...
Do you not know the difference between 2FA and the old two step verification? 2FA is required and old verification must be turned off. Working perfectly for me when I followed the directions. You know RTFM :)
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nightcap965 said:
OK, apparently you have to walk away for a while. When I came back to my Mac after a couple hours, setting up Apple Watch unlocking worked.

You have to enable two-factor authentication, which involves entering your Apple ID password twice and your Mac password twice. Not exactly "It just works" simplicity here...

Save for the fact that they aren't ready for iOS10 yet, my old method of using Near Lock was a lot simpler.
Click to expand...
I only had to enter password once at the beginning, now I just hit trackpad to wake my Macbook then says logging in with Apple Watch and done.
 
Last edited:
Anyone know if its possible at all to disable the notification that you get on the Watch when the Mac unlocks?
 
burgman said:
That's not how 2FA works. The security questions are only for if you forget your password. 2FA sends you a six digit code in a popup, which according to Apple is more secure because it only shows up on your listed trusted devices.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that's what I have now. I'm being asked which trusted device I want the code to be sent to.

burgman said:
Do you not know the difference between 2FA and the old two step verification? 2FA is required and old verification must be turned off. Working perfectly for me when I followed the directions. You know RTFM :)

I only had to enter password once at the beginning, now I just hit trackpad to wake my Macbook then says logging in with Apple Watch and done.
Click to expand...

I admit to not being clear on this issue. I'm troubled because when I called tech support for assistance, they wanted to talk me through the process, and instead of getting a series of numerals sent to a trusted device, it was asking me for a set of security questions.

It seems very murky to me, and the tech advisor 'Keanu' and senior tech advisor 'Patricia' were unable to provide a coherent explanation. The fact that 'two factor' and 'two step' verification are so similarly worded isn't helpful either.
 
profets said:
Anyone know if its possible at all to disable the notification that you get on the Watch when the Mac unlocks?
Click to expand...

I don't think so, and with good reason. It's in case someone opens your Mac while you aren't looking but are within range. Very, very unlikely I know.
 
bxs said:
I've tested the Auto-Unlock extensively today having 2FA, watchOS 3, iPhone 10.01 and my late 2015 iMac.

In Security & Privacy the "Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac" needs to be checked.

The watch needs to be on your wrist (unlocked) and within around 4 feet of the Mac.

It works ONLY if Wi-Fi is enabled.

If Wi-Fi is not ON then at times when you're presented with the login password box there will be a message underneath it saying Wi-Fi must be ON. This message does not always display unfortunately so some users will be unaware of the Wi-Fi requirement.

The Auto-Unlock will work for both the wake from sleep and interrupting the Screen saver when both of these features require a password entry for login as configured in the System Preferences Security & Privacy -> General pane.
Click to expand...

Does Auto Unlock work with the iPhone running iOS 10?
 
I am willing to upgrade the airport card in my 2012 rMBP to get auto unlock working but read on ifixit that swapping the airport card is not necessarily giving you AC speeds and might even result in worse wifi performance given the antenna design changes that came with AC.

Can someone comment on the wifi performance on an upgraded 2012 rMBP? Thanks.
 
Does anyone know if its bluetooth strength or brute physical distance that determines whether it locks/unlocks?

Im hoping someone can change a line in code within a plist to allow a greater range.
My bluetooth keyboard and track[ad have a bluetooth signal averaging -48 to -58 which I think is powerful enough but apparently its not enough to trigger the auto unlock.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not hence trying to work out is it signal or distance limit? Its completely random.

I have the BCM94360CD model. Im prepared to buy a new module if it'll certainly improve.

Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Hey guys, I always get a message in the security prefs that communication between my Mac and AppleWatch failed.

I think I fulfill all the requirements:
– 2-factor-authentication
– MacBook Pro 15" late 2013
– Sierra GM (Build 16A323)
– latest WatchOS 3
– latest iOS 10.0.1

I even completely reset the Watch lately and the GM of Sierra is a clean install.

Of course all devices are logged into the same iCloud account.

I see the checkbox to allow AppleWatch unlocking my Mac for several betas now, but I always get this dialogue telling me communication between my Mac and Watch failed.

Since I reset the Watch yesterday to factory defaults, I guess there must be a bluetooth-, networking- or security-preference file in one of the library-folders that I could try to delete. Does anybody have an idea which ones might be relevant?
 
wolfie said:
Does anyone know if its bluetooth strength or brute physical distance that determines whether it locks/unlocks?

Im hoping someone can change a line in code within a plist to allow a greater range.
My bluetooth keyboard and track[ad have a bluetooth signal averaging -48 to -58 which I think is powerful enough but apparently its not enough to trigger the auto unlock.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not hence trying to work out is it signal or distance limit? Its completely random.

I have the BCM94360CD model. Im prepared to buy a new module if it'll certainly improve.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
No-one outside of Apple really knows what they're doing (at least, if they do, they aren't talking) ;) with this feature.
You could try pruning down the section within:
/System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist
for your system (make sure you backup the file first) :)
You'll notice that some systems in there don't have thresholds. You could try removing them for your system (or tweaking the values) - see if it makes any difference.

If it does, please let everyone know on this thread, so they can replicate your results. :)

The BroadCom 4360 chipset supports both BLE as well as 802.11AC - chances are you'll be fine with that card (although, as the same chipset is utilized for both, there have been some suggestions that performance isn't as well as the airport cards that have separate chipsets for the two networking protocols).
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Cehus said:
Hey guys, I always get a message in the security prefs that communication between my Mac and AppleWatch failed.

I think I fulfill all the requirements:
– 2-factor-authentication
– MacBook Pro 15" late 2013
– Sierra GM (Build 16A323)
– latest WatchOS 3
– latest iOS 10.0.1

I even completely reset the Watch lately and the GM of Sierra is a clean install.

Of course all devices are logged into the same iCloud account.

I see the checkbox to allow AppleWatch unlocking my Mac for several betas now, but I always get this dialogue telling me communication between my Mac and Watch failed.

Since I reset the Watch yesterday to factory defaults, I guess there must be a bluetooth-, networking- or security-preference file in one of the library-folders that I could try to delete. Does anybody have an idea which ones might be relevant?
Click to expand...
It can often be frustrating (and illogical) for what actually gets this feature working. I think Apple's over-complicated the feature (possibly in their efforts to ensure only the newest systems support it).
From your system side, you want to minimize the complexity of your installation until you get it working. (so, using the MacBook by itself - lid open, no external displays or peripherals (incl. keyboards or mice).
Also, if you have any other bluetooth devices connecting to your MacBook, I would unpair them until you get this working.

Copy/pasting advice I gave someone else on another thread:

Unfortunately, in order to get all of the bits to work can often require you to logout/login to Apple's cloud in multiple ways (iCloud, messenger, FaceTime - each has their own login). Toggling the handoff feature (System Preferences, General, Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices) as well as on your devices (iPhone, both Utilities, Settings, General, Handoff as well as Messages, Text Message Forwarding) - and again, toggling your logins for iCloud, iMessage & FaceTime for all of your devices.

It REALLY shouldn't be this awful to get a feature like continuity to work, but Apple's made far too many hooks and checks into their cloud....and all of the ducks have to be in a row. (and our ability to see which duck isn't is almost non-existent). :(
 
AaronG123 said:
Been reading back through the thread; seems conflicting info. But any advise if its possible to upgrade a
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) (MacBookPro9,2). Not entirely sure on exact model number until I get home, but this is the non retina version. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

You need wireless card BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX in order to upgrade to AC and BT 4.0. Available on eBay for around £40.
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doylebl said:
I purchased this airport board for my non mid 2012 MacBook pro but it isn't compatible from what i can see. is there one that is compatible ?
Click to expand...

BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX - search eBay for this model number, that's the compatible card for the A1278.
 
I think this feature is really finicky. My MacBook Pro takes some time to start up from sleep and by the time it starts Auto Unlock I could've typed in my password. After unpairing and repairing with the Mac, it usually works the first time, but then after a few hours the Auto Unlock will just give up lol
 
Every time i select the unlock with Apple Watch option I get kicked over to iCloud preferences and the option doesn't get setup. Running public release, watchOS 3, and have 2FA turned on.
 
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