Two questions for Big Sur-testers (sleep-bug and Apple Watch unlock with more users)

[VSG]

Hi everyone,

I'm not quite sold on the new look of Big Sur, but I think I'll get used to it. I am, however, hoping Apple added one specific feature and fixed one particularly annoying bug and I'd be happy if any of the testers out there could check this out:

1. Feature:
On Catalina it's possible to use your Apple Watch to unlock the Mac. But it only works if set up for one particular user. Does Big Sur happen to support Unlock with Apple Watch for several users at the same time, so switching between profiles doesn't require to enter the password for all users but one every time?

2. Bug:
Catalina (and previous) feature a bug that Apple seems unable (or unwilling) to solve. When sent to sleep mode, certain notifications like Reminders wake the Mac and prevent it from going back to sleep. This is a known problem, also reported on in the forums here. I've tried a lot of settings, but no matter what, my Mac won't go back to sleep after some time, but will simply turn off the screen, resulting in a far higher power consumption (about 35 watts). Maybe Apple got around this in Big Sur? Could someone affected take a look at this?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Best regards
VSG

 

[mikecwest]

Hi everyone,

I'm not quite sold on the new look of Big Sur, but I think I'll get used to it. I am, however, hoping Apple added one specific feature and fixed one particularly annoying bug and I'd be happy if any of the testers out there could check this out:

1. Feature:
On Catalina it's possible to use your Apple Watch to unlock the Mac. But it only works if set up for one particular user. Does Big Sur happen to support Unlock with Apple Watch for several users at the same time, so switching between profiles doesn't require to enter the password for all users but one every time?

2. Bug:
Catalina (and previous) feature a bug that Apple seems unable (or unwilling) to solve. When sent to sleep mode, certain notifications like Reminders wake the Mac and prevent it from going back to sleep. This is a known problem, also reported on in the forums here. I've tried a lot of settings, but no matter what, my Mac won't go back to sleep after some time, but will simply turn off the screen, resulting in a far higher power consumption (about 35 watts). Maybe Apple got around this in Big Sur? Could someone affected take a look at this?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Best regards
VSG

Did you try disabling Dark Wake?

 

[VSG]

Did you try disabling Dark Wake?

Thanks for your reply.
I had honestly never heard of "dark wake", but it really got my hopes up.
To no avail. 😕

At least my first attempt didn't work. After about an hour my PC woke and while the screen was off, it didn't go back to sleep. I'll try with Power Nap and everything else disabled, but to me it seems as if there is just something preventing the Mac from going back to (deep) sleep.

Funnily enough, after the Mac woke and was running (with the screen off), I hit a key so the screen lit up and when it went off again, the Mac went back to sleep.
But it woke again some time later (screen off).

 

[VSG]

Did you try disabling Dark Wake?

After some rounds of testing, even with deactivating Power Nap, I sadly have to report, disabling Dark Wake doesn't help.
Thus, my hopes rest on Big Sur.

 

[Malbrute]

Still happens in Big Sur

 

[VSG]

Still happens in Big Sur

Thanks for the info.

 

[DaveXX]

Did anybody could use unlock Apple watch without affecting wifi?
Tested this on various MacBooks including MBP 16 and with Big Sur and WatchOS 7.0 beta.

After a while the txrate will always lockdown to 13Mbps or 27Mbps and wifi is nearly unusable. Just deactivating apple watch unlock will solve the issue or you have to turn off/on wifi (cycle) every few hours.