Can't enable auto unlock on Mac with Watch Ultra 2 [MERGED]

[buzzman]

Hi there

I recently bought the Ultra Watch 2 and I really hate, that i can't connect it to my MacBook for the auto unlock feature.
I had a Series 6 watch since it came out and that worked properly. Now with my Ultra 2 first it said something like I'm not signed in to my Apple account on the MacBook with was not true (i also did the Macbook Update; MacBook Pro 14" first gen).

The next day when I wanted to activate the unlock featre the Apple account problem seems to be gone, but it tries to synchronize like 1 minute, then says it can't communicate with my Apple Watch.

I only have 1 AppleID and I'm logged in on both of them. Bluetooth seems enabled on both devices and I already deleted all the autounluock entries in this keychain app and in some folder.
These were like all the hints I found online (check Apple-ID, enable Bluetooth, delete autounlock entries). Of course i restarted the MacBook several times, started the Apple Watch several times, disabled so stuff on the watch app to test it out (handoff, auto unlock watch with iphone)...nothing seems to work.
Any other suggestions what I could try? Someone said something to log out to the Apple account on the Mac, but when i try to do that there are several warnings what will be deleted like my whole photos library and stuff. So i didn't do that, but as of now, the error message has nothing to do with the Apple account, so that is hopefully not a problem anymore.
Thanks for any help

 

[gravi2k2]

I also have problems with auto unlock after the update to Sequoia/WatchOS 11. First i also had the synchronize timeout and error message, that communication with apple watch is not possible. Since logout/login from/to my apple id my apple watch even is not shown anymore in the touch id setting.

What i tried to fix:

- logout/login from/to apple account (several times)
- several restarts of watch/mac devices
- deleting autounlock entries in keychain app and in /Library/Shared/AutoUnlock folder
- completely resetting keychain
- reconnect apple watch to iphone (from backup and even as new watch - both things did not help)

I also have an apple watch ultra 2 and have the same problem on two devices (macbook air m3 and imac m1). I think it is a bug in Sequoia/WatchOS 11. But maybe anyone knows how to completely reset auto unlock because i cannot believe that everyone has this problem.

After reconnecting my watch to my iphone i even have another problem: i cannot enable apnoe-tracking anymore. Error message says, that is it not available in my country. But it definitely is (i live in germany) and before reconnection i was able to enable it. The current releases seems to be very buggy to me...

 

[jz0309]

Hi there

I recently bought the Ultra Watch 2 and I really hate, that i can't connect it to my MacBook for the auto unlock feature.
I had a Series 6 watch since it came out and that worked properly. Now with my Ultra 2 first it said something like I'm not signed in to my Apple account on the MacBook with was not true (i also did the Macbook Update; MacBook Pro 14" first gen).

The next day when I wanted to activate the unlock featre the Apple account problem seems to be gone, but it tries to synchronize like 1 minute, then says it can't communicate with my Apple Watch.

I only have 1 AppleID and I'm logged in on both of them. Bluetooth seems enabled on both devices and I already deleted all the autounluock entries in this keychain app and in some folder.
These were like all the hints I found online (check Apple-ID, enable Bluetooth, delete autounlock entries). Of course i restarted the MacBook several times, started the Apple Watch several times, disabled so stuff on the watch app to test it out (handoff, auto unlock watch with iphone)...nothing seems to work.
Any other suggestions what I could try? Someone said something to log out to the Apple account on the Mac, but when i try to do that there are several warnings what will be deleted like my whole photos library and stuff. So i didn't do that, but as of now, the error message has nothing to do with the Apple account, so that is hopefully not a problem anymore.
Thanks for any help

are you following the instructions (below) exactly?
I upgraded U2, 13PM and Mac Studio to 11/18/15 yesterday and for me it is working fine (and it had been working fine for years).
There have been multiple threads, both here in the watch forum as well the Mac forum on this.

Unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch - Apple Support

While you’re wearing Apple Watch, your Mac can sense when you’re nearby and automatically log you in. You can also use Apple Watch to approve other requests for your administrator password.

support.apple.com

 

[gravi2k2]

are you following the instructions (below) exactly?

yes. it worked fine before the update. and nothing else changed.

 

[jz0309]

yes. it worked fine before the update. and nothing else changed.

I've had a few times over the years when it stopped working, disabling and then re-enabling it on the Mac side has always fixed it for me, might have re-booted in-between but can't remember

 

[the_alsatian]

Same problem here.
After upgrading all my devices to the latest release, the Apple watch unlock worked for one day and suddenly stopped yesterday on both of my Macs (M3 Pro and M2 Air).

Restart of all devices didnt' help.

If I try to turn it on on my Macs, after entering the password, it times out at the sync/pairing level.

Years ago, I could fix this issue by following steps:

Steps (follow at your own discretion)
Open "Keychain Access"
In "View", enable "Show Invisible Items"
Search for "Auto Unlock"
You should see a whole bunch of application passwords for "Auto Unlock: XXXX's ..."
Select all records and delete (this will reset/disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple Macs)
Whilst still in "Keychain Access", search for "AutoUnlock" (no space)
There should be 4 entries for "tlk" "tlk-nonsync" "classA" "classC"
Select 4 records and delete (don't worry if they re-appear, the system repairs this automatically)
Open "Finder" and navigate to "~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock"
There should be two files "ltk.plist" and "pairing-records.plist"
Delete both files
Open "System Preferences" and try enabling auto unlock. You may need to enable it twice, the first attempt will fail

Tried this too, but this time it didn't do the trick.

Hoping that maybe there is another way to get it running again or a fix from Apple soon

 

[buzzman]

I tried that too, didn't help.
But I'm somehow "happy" that I'm not alone with this, so this is probably not an isolated issue. If it is more common, then a fix is more likely

 

[MigMad]

Same problem, updated two Mackbook air's, M1 and M2 to Sequoia, iPhone to IOS 16 and watchOS 11.0.

I've try your steps and nothing works!!

 

[gravi2k2]

I solved the issue for me. I did two things, but i do not know exactly whether the first thing is necessary:

1. I found out on router logs, that my apple watch disconnects randomly from my wifi network. i had this issue a few years ago and i solved it by ignoring my wifi network on iphone and apple watch and after that i reconnected on the iphone. after that, wifi on apple watch was stable. but this did not solve the issue

2. i also had problems connecting to facetime and imessage. on reddit i found a post where several people said, that cloudflare-dns is making problems. I also used cloudflare dns on my router and i removed it. after that, i also resetted dns cache on my mac (in terminal type "sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder").

After that, i was able to connect to facetime/imessage and my apple watch appeared under the touch id/password setting. i was able to activate and now it is working again.

 

[the_alsatian]

Update on my issue:
After work yesterday, I tried to re-enable the toggle on my M2 Air and lo and behold it activated without issue.
Now, this morning same on my M3 Pro, just went to the settings and activated it, again without any problem.

Not sure at all, but might have been something on Apple Server side (iCloud Keychain sync, etc.) which was not working properly for a moment?

As result, all seems to work for now fine on my machines.
Give it a try today and see if it activates for you.

 

[buzzman]

It suddenly works for me since today. Tried it several times each day, but nothing until now. But I'm happy that it works.

 

[iLondoner]

...similar problem moved to non Ultra thread.

 

[iLondoner]

My new Watch Series 10 (OS 11.0.1) arrived today but I cannot configure it to unlock my 2021 Macbook Pro (Sequoia 15.0.1).

In macOS settings>touch ID and password, it shows my Watch Series 4 that I've just upgraded from, plus a Watch Series 1 that I binned years ago and seemingly can't remove, but doesn't show the Watch Series 10, so I can't therefore flip the on toggle for unlocking.

In macOS settings>Apple Account, both my Watch Series 4 and my new Watch Series 10 are shown in the device list (but not the Watch Series 1).

Similar situation with my 2019 iMac.

 

[dmccombs]

My S10 watch unlocks my mac, so I don' think your issue is a problem with the S10 series as a whole. Maybe try rebooting the mac and the watch, and retry everything?

 

[deeddawg]

Works fine here. S10 on 11.0 and macbook on Sonoma 14.6.1

 

[Pug72]

Happens rarely but sometimes my watch doesn't unlock a Mac. A reboot of the Mac always sorts it.

 

[iLondoner]

I had already rebooted the Watch, the Macbook and my iPhone.

I felt the problem was to do with the Apple account as it DID recognise the Series 10 on my Macbook. When I went into 'find my' on the iPhone I had two devices both called 'Tim's Apple Watch' with nothing to differentiate them. So I used the Watch app on the iPhone to rename the new one 'Tim's Watch 10'.

When I went back to the Macbook, macOS settings>touch ID and password, the 'Apple Watch Series 1' (different name from above) had been replaced with 'Tim's Watch 10'. I was able to toggle the setting and the unlock now works.

Was the problem as simple as a 21 character device name being truncated to 20 characters by macOS???

However there is still a disparity between macOS settings>Apple Account which now shows the device as
'Tim's Apple Watch
Apple Watch Series 10'

and iOS>find my which shows the device as 'Tim's Watch 10'.

 

[funkioto]

Same issue when I updated to Watch OS 11 on my Series 6.
It can't unlock any of these:
Macbook Pro M1 Pro - Sequoia 15.0.1
Macbook Air M1 - Sequois 15.0.1
Mac Mini M1 - Sonoma 14.7

I noticed it shows "Unlocking with your apple watch" for a second then that disappears.

 

[funkioto]

Good news, updating to 11.1 has fixed it!