Apple Watch Auto Unlock Questions [MERGED]

[Anuba]

I have (or rather, had) the Apple Watch option under the Security > General tab on my mid 2014 MBP, but didn't have two-factor enabled.

After going through a hundred hoops to switch from 2-step to 2-factor, I went back to enable the "auto unlock w/ Apple Watch" option and now the damn General tab was suddenly missing both "Disable automatic login" and "auto unlock with Apple Watch". They remain absent after reboot. Huh?

 

[old-school]

I have (or rather, had) the Apple Watch option under the Security > General tab on my mid 2014 MBP, but didn't have two-factor enabled.

After going through a hundred hoops to switch from 2-step to 2-factor, I went back to enable the "auto unlock w/ Apple Watch" option and now the damn General tab was suddenly missing both "Disable automatic login" and "auto unlock with Apple Watch". They remain absent after reboot. Huh?

Exactly the same here.

 

[Anuba]

Exactly the same here.

The items returned on the MBP after I rebooted both the watch and the iPhone it's tethered to, so you might wanna try that.
It's a pity that auto unlock isn't dead easy to set up, because then the labor would match the payoff (which is kind of meh).
This felt more like having to chop down a tree with an axe in order to make a toothpick.

 

[matthew_stathis]

one thing that has me curious is everyone saying that a mid-2013 rMBP is needed because of the 802.11ac airport card... but the apple watch only supports 802.11b/g/n... so how exactly would the apple watch connect to the mac's 802.11ac band with a b/g/n-only radio.... also were there even any mid-2013 retina MacBook pros released? i thought after early-2013 it went to late-2013.

(network tech isn't my strong suite, so i might be wrong about the wireless band compatibilities, its just a theory i came up with on the spot lol, but I'm just giving my 2 cents)

 

[old-school]

The items returned on the MBP after I rebooted both the watch and the iPhone it's tethered to, so you might wanna try that.
It's a pity that auto unlock isn't dead easy to set up, because then the labor would match the payoff (which is kind of meh).
This felt more like having to chop down a tree with an axe in order to make a toothpick.

Just got mine working with a reboot of both too. Yes, could have been much simpler!

 

[jordancrombie92]

mines finally working!

I turned handoff on and off on all three devices (MB, iPhone and Watch), then I noticed that Allow Unlock with Apple Watch had unticked so I reticked it and it popped up asking for my password, and now it works!

Still not as quick as I was expecting but saves me typing in my password each time!

 

[CaptMarvel]

All I had to do was reboot my Apple Watch and everything worked...if only I would have known it was that simple at first.

 

[Croker]

Just managed to get this working, after wasting nearly 2 hours of my morning on it. What worked for me in the end was to delete any other Bluetooth devices (luckily I just had 2 old devices listed, which I no longer use, and I have no other bluetooth devices at the moment. I am now concerned as to what might happen if I do buy any in future, though).

Anyway, I stumbled across this solution after reading the following post on page 4 of this thread, which I've quoted in full below:

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.

Thanks, dgturc83! You put me on the right track, and I'm grateful.

Oh, and I'm using an rMBP, early 2015. To be honest I found it pretty embarrassing that a feature that is supposed to make my life easier took so much effort to get working. Mind you, I'm used to that - Keychain has NEVER worked for me on my iPhone, despite being enabled on both my rMBP and the phone, and endless attempts at solving the problem on my part. It works fine on the rMBP, just not on the phone. At all. Apple Support have been useless in trying to solve this, as well.

 

[dgturc83]

Just managed to get this working, after wasting nearly 2 hours of my morning on it. What worked for me in the end was to delete any other Bluetooth devices (luckily I just had 2 old devices listed, which I no longer use, and I have no other bluetooth devices at the moment. I am now concerned as to what might happen if I do buy any in future, though).

Anyway, I stumbled across this solution after reading the following post on page 4 of this thread, which I've quoted in full below:



Thanks, dgturc83! You put me on the right track, and I'm grateful.

Oh, and I'm using an rMBP, early 2015. To be honest I found it pretty embarrassing that a feature that is supposed to make my life easier took so much effort to get working. Mind you, I'm used to that - Keychain has NEVER worked for me on my iPhone, despite being enabled on both my rMBP and the phone, and endless attempts at solving the problem on my part. It works fine on the rMBP, just not on the phone. At all. Apple Support have been useless in trying to solve this, as well.

Glad it worked for you,! Can't believe Apple would allow this seeing how much they push Bluetooth peripherals.

P.S. I have the same issue with Keychain as well, very frustrating!

 

[dschulian]

Sadly, I can't get this feature to work.
I did a clean install of macOS on my rMBP'13, enabled 2FA and double checked if the watch is connected and shown in my devices list.

When I activate this feature, everything seems to go smooth, but when trying to unlock my rMBP, after the spinner spins for a while, all I get is the password field. No error, nothing. Rebooted all devices multiple times, no progres..

Any advice?

 

[valdikor]

I have been trying to set up unlocking my 2014 5K iMac with my (original) Apple Watch, and although all of my software is up to date, I have followed all instructions to the letter and I have rebooted all my devices multiple times (my computer, watch as well as my iPhone), I am still always prompted to enter my password to unlock my Mac (see video). What am I doing wrong? Thank you.

 

[wolfie]

same problem

 

[fischersd]

Sadly, I can't get this feature to work.
I did a clean install of macOS on my rMBP'13, enabled 2FA and double checked if the watch is connected and shown in my devices list.

When I activate this feature, everything seems to go smooth, but when trying to unlock my rMBP, after the spinner spins for a while, all I get is the password field. No error, nothing. Rebooted all devices multiple times, no progres..

Any advice?

"rMBP'13" doesn't really say if your system is early 2013 or late 2013 - and, yes, it does seem that it makes all the difference. It was the systems in late 2013 that they introduced the 802.11AC network cards. This is a requirement for the feature. (that and BLE - Bluetooth Low Energy). If you don't have both, it won't work.

See my comments on post #106 above - you need to toggle your logins, handoff being enabled, etc.

 

[J. J.]

I am going to buy a BCM94360CSAX AirPort card for my early 2013 rMBP. This should make AutoUnlock work, shouldn't it?

 

[fischersd]

I am going to buy a BCM94360CSAX AirPort card for my early 2013 rMBP. This should make AutoUnlock work, shouldn't it?

That chipset (BCM4360) supports BLE and 802.11AC, yes. Hopefully you've made sure that's the right card for your rMBP (some people order new airport cards, only to find out they ordered one with the wrong interface for their system).

 

[PCtoMAC1]

That chipset (BCM4360) supports BLE and 802.11AC, yes. Hopefully you've made sure that's the right card for your rMBP (some people order new airport cards, only to find out they ordered one with the wrong interface for their system).

Can someone please help - I have a mid-2012 MacBook Pro (15") that has BT 4.0, iOS 10 is installed on my iPhone 6 and Watch OS 3 on my watch. I can't get it to work! Some sites say that it should work, others say no....

 

[fischersd]

Can someone please help - I have a mid-2012 MacBook Pro (15") that has BT 4.0, iOS 10 is installed on my iPhone 6 and Watch OS 3 on my watch. I can't get it to work! Some sites say that it should work, others say no....

Unless you change your airport card to one that supports 802.11AC, no, you won't be able to use this feature. Apple stated - late 2013 mac's and newer.

 

[PCtoMAC1]

Unless you change your airport card to one that supports 802.11AC, no, you won't be able to use this feature. Apple stated - late 2013 mac's and newer.

Thank you for the update! I'm comfortable with replacing the card, though I need to know where to get one. Will replacing the card actually upgrade the wifi as well? I read another post where someone mentioned it actually slowed down the wifi connection...

 

[fischersd]

Thank you for the update! I'm comfortable with replacing the card, though I need to know where to get one. Will replacing the card actually upgrade the wifi as well? I read another post where someone mentioned it actually slowed down the wifi connection...

Yeah, I really can't comment on others results. I replaced my airport in my 2008 MBP and I'm getting up to 850Mb/s connections to my 802.11AC WAP. (and the feature was working) - now, I need to load the public release on it yet.

Obviously, you wouldn't want to try to recreate their exact install (if it's the same system as yours, maybe don't replace your card with the same network card?) Additionally, it's possible that they have a defective network card, or made an error in their installation.

 

[PCtoMAC1]

Yeah, I really can't comment on others results. I replaced my airport in my 2008 MBP and I'm getting up to 850Mb/s connections to my 802.11AC WAP. (and the feature was working) - now, I need to load the public release on it yet.

Obviously, you wouldn't want to try to recreate their exact install (if it's the same system as yours, maybe don't replace your card with the same network card?) Additionally, it's possible that they have a defective network card, or made an error in their installation.

Interesting....I also read on LifeHacker that some Mid-2012's should work. I wish I could find the appropriate answer. It looks like some people have just restarted their devices and the unlock option came up.

 

[fischersd]

Interesting....I also read on LifeHacker that some Mid-2012's should work. I wish I could find the appropriate answer. It looks like some people have just restarted their devices and the unlock option came up.

No-one on here has. (and many have tried). My 2012 Mac Mini won't support the feature either (no 802.11AC)

 

[dschulian]

"rMBP'13" doesn't really say if your system is early 2013 or late 2013 - and, yes, it does seem that it makes all the difference. It was the systems in late 2013 that they introduced the 802.11AC network cards. This is a requirement for the feature. (that and BLE - Bluetooth Low Energy). If you don't have both, it won't work.

See my comments on post #106 above - you need to toggle your logins, handoff being enabled, etc.

Sorry, forgot to mention: I'm on a rMBP Late '13 with an iPhone 6 + AW Series 0

I disabled and re-enabled handoff on both MacBook & iPhone (I think it's mirrored to the watch). What do you mean with "toggle logins"?

I should mention that Handoff works with AW > iPhone, AW > MacBook & iPhone > MacBook

 

[fischersd]

Sorry, forgot to mention: I'm on a rMBP Late '13 with an iPhone 6 + AW Series 0

I disabled and re-enabled handoff on both MacBook & iPhone (I think it's mirrored to the watch). What do you mean with "toggle logins"?

I should mention that Handoff works with AW > iPhone, AW > MacBook & iPhone > MacBook

"Toggle" means you would logout, then back in again.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/auto-unlock-problems-merged.1992765/page-5#post-23499299

 

[PCtoMAC1]

A

No-one on here has. (and many have tried). My 2012 Mac Mini won't support the feature either (no 802.11AC)

Anyone know where to purchase a 801.11AC card for a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro? I imagine that the installation isn't too difficult...

 

[CaTOAGU]

This just won't work consistently for me at all. I've tried all the fixes and I have all the requisite components but it will only very occasionally work. The feature also seems to cause interference on my Wi-Fi network as shortly after enabling it, connection speed drops from between 1053-1300Mbps to 580-708Mbps.