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Other “Unlock with Apple Watch” not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max

Is “Unlock with Apple Watch” working on your new iPhone 13 Mini/Pro/Max?

  • Yes

    Votes: 25 10.1%

  • No

    Votes: 210 84.7%

  • No when I first got the phone, but working after restoring from an iPhone 13 backup

    Votes: 13 5.2%
  • Total voters
    248
  • Poll closed .
mmacrumor said:
New backup in the sense. Will a backup to Mac be sufficient or should it be a iCloud backup?

I would try erasing my phone as last option but want to be sure this works.

did you unpair the watch and then took a back up of the phone?

When restoring did you restore the watch from backup or setup as new watch?
Click to expand...

- I did backup (iPhone only) from Mac, but both Mac and iCloud should work.
- No unpair or restore needed on AppleWatch side , issue is iPhone related. Without un-pairing .. and after 'restore iPhone backup', the Watch went through a re-pair/connect processwithin few minutes automatically.
(update ring turn around apple logo, see image).
 

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Boardiesboi said:
Picked up my iPhone 13 Pro Max earlier this morning and I’m having issues with turning on “unlock with Apple Watch” feature under Face ID settings.

It keeps telling me “unable to communicate with Apple Watch”. My watch is paired and shows up in the Watch app.

When I set up the new phone, I chose “restore from iCloud backup” and tapped yes when it asked me if I wanted to pair my watch with the new phone

I’ve already tried the following:
- Update iOS 15 (there’s a small update ~450MB after you first set up the phone)
- Unpair and re-pair my Apple Watch
- Power down both devices and restart
- Reset Face ID
- Toggle “unlock with iPhone“ in Watch app settings on and off

I raised this in the first impressions and Australian preorder thread and it seems a few of us are having the same issue.

I’ve already provided feedback to Apple via https://www.apple.com/feedback/

Please also log similar feedback so Apple can understand the extent of the problem and fix it ASAP. This was sooooo useful when wearing a mask and trying to use the phone.
Click to expand...
No issues with mine. I erase and set up as new every year. Everything is working flawlessly.
 
Interesting. Mine works just fine. When I paired my watch I did set it up as new. My watch is on it's latest SW as well.
 
Yeah… mine is not working either. I also starred fresh this year - both iPhone 13PM and Watch S4 set up as new. Still fails to “communicate with Apple Watch” when trying to enable unlock with Apple Watch setting.
 
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Also having same issue with unable to unlock with Apple Watch. iPhone 13 Pro Max. Direct transfer from last year's phone.
 
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Worked for me when I was setting up my phone. Had to erase my watch because initial pairing went wrong and restore from backup. Was surprised when it worked but glad because this is my for Face ID phone and looked forward to at least being able to unlock it with my watch while wearing a mask.
 
RealSkyDiver said:
Worked for me when I was setting up my phone. Had to erase my watch because initial pairing went wrong and restore from backup. Was surprised when it worked but glad because this is my for Face ID phone and looked forward to at least being able to unlock it with my watch while wearing a mask.
Click to expand...
So, it worked after you unpaired your Watch and restored from backup? That did not solve for me unfortunately.
 
Alkmaarder said:
SOLVED

I have contacted AppleCare Support today ... Basically there are two options:

1. Wait until next update which will solve the issue. And use code / no mask in meanwhile.

2. Workaround:
- Make a NEW Back-up for the iPhone13 (Pro).
- Erase phone and set up as new phone.
- Restore from backup iPhone13 NOT from original backup (iPhone11/12 etc).
- Go to 'settings' > 'Face ID & Passcode' V 'Unlock with Apple Watch' ... now the toggle switch and connection should work!

Please let me know if it works or not!

Edit: Worked fine after lengthly backup-restore process.. (Kept Dataplan settings e-SIM , but had to rebuild the rest)

Alkmaarder
iPhone 13 Pro Max,
iOS 15.0 (19A346) < This new iOS from update , NOT the iOS 15.0 out of the box!

Apple Watch 5, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)

Apple Watch 6, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)
Click to expand...
I can confirm that following the above, I was able to restore the "Unlock with Apple Watch". Having to re-setup certain things anew (Apple Pay, 2FA, etc.) was a little bit of a chore, but glad to have that functionality back.
 
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XS Max to 13Pro
- Phone: Direct Transfer
- Watch: Automatic Watch Transfer
- Watch: Restore from Backup
- Watch: Setup as new watch

Problems:
- Fitness+ no longer connects (Have to use an old 14.8 iPad)
- Unlock with Watch gets "Unable to Communicate"
- Watch battery life went down

My first Direct Transfer and it was a huge time saver because all settings were retained. But these watch problems really tanked the whole day for me and I still am stuck. I'm really tempted to go try the 15.1 beta and see if that works.
 
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Alkmaarder said:
SOLVED

I have contacted AppleCare Support today ... Basically there are two options:

1. Wait until next update which will solve the issue. And use code / no mask in meanwhile.

2. Workaround:
- Make a NEW Back-up for the iPhone13 (Pro).
- Erase phone and set up as new phone.
- Restore from backup iPhone13 NOT from original backup (iPhone11/12 etc).
- Go to 'settings' > 'Face ID & Passcode' V 'Unlock with Apple Watch' ... now the toggle switch and connection should work!

Please let me know if it works or not!

Edit: Worked fine after lengthly backup-restore process.. (Kept Dataplan settings e-SIM , but had to rebuild the rest)

Alkmaarder
iPhone 13 Pro Max,
iOS 15.0 (19A346) < This new iOS from update , NOT the iOS 15.0 out of the box!

Apple Watch 5, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)

Apple Watch 6, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)
Click to expand...

This worked for me.
 
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CMoore515 said:
This worked for me.
Click to expand...
Alkmaarder said:
SOLVED

I have contacted AppleCare Support today ... Basically there are two options:

1. Wait until next update which will solve the issue. And use code / no mask in meanwhile.

2. Workaround:
- Make a NEW Back-up for the iPhone13 (Pro).
- Erase phone and set up as new phone.
- Restore from backup iPhone13 NOT from original backup (iPhone11/12 etc).
- Go to 'settings' > 'Face ID & Passcode' V 'Unlock with Apple Watch' ... now the toggle switch and connection should work!

Please let me know if it works or not!

Edit: Worked fine after lengthly backup-restore process.. (Kept Dataplan settings e-SIM , but had to rebuild the rest)

Alkmaarder
iPhone 13 Pro Max,
iOS 15.0 (19A346) < This new iOS from update , NOT the iOS 15.0 out of the box!

Apple Watch 5, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)

Apple Watch 6, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)
Click to expand...

Did you do a physical backup in a mac or just iCloud backup?
 
It is not. Watch unlock with phone is working, but not phone unlock with Watch with a mask.

I set both devices up as new when I received my phone, so must be an iOS 15 issue.
 
Appl3FTW said:
My Apple Watch doesn’t pair with my 13PM either… ugh they need to fix this. I work at a hospital that wears mask all the time. I need the watch unlock feature.
Click to expand...

If your watch isn’t pairing with your phone at all then that’s a different problem. In this case the watch pairs fine, but the option to unlock the phone with the watch doesn’t work.

If this is critical for you it looks like there is a workaround posted above where you backup your phone, then reset it and restore the phone.
 
Alkmaarder said:
SOLVED

I have contacted AppleCare Support today ... Basically there are two options:

1. Wait until next update which will solve the issue. And use code / no mask in meanwhile.

2. Workaround:
- Make a NEW Back-up for the iPhone13 (Pro).
- Erase phone and set up as new phone.
- Restore from backup iPhone13 NOT from original backup (iPhone11/12 etc).
- Go to 'settings' > 'Face ID & Passcode' V 'Unlock with Apple Watch' ... now the toggle switch and connection should work!

Please let me know if it works or not!

Edit: Worked fine after lengthly backup-restore process.. (Kept Data-plan settings e-SIM , but had to rebuild the rest .. such as ApplePay , 2 factor logins , and some secure apps)

Alkmaarder
iPhone 13 Pro Max,
iOS 15.0 (19A346) < This new iOS from update , NOT the iOS 15.0 out of the box!

Apple Watch 5, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)

Apple Watch 6, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)
Click to expand...

This worked for me. I took the extra step of deleting the iPhone 12 backup (it was on the public beta so may be a factor?) and the current 13 backup, forced a brand new backup of 13. Then erased. Manual activation, restored from iCloud backup. Unlock works both ways again. Took about an hour to have it all back up and running with restore complete.
 
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Alkmaarder said:
SOLVED

I have contacted AppleCare Support today ... Basically there are two options:

1. Wait until next update which will solve the issue. And use code / no mask in meanwhile.

2. Workaround:
- Make a NEW Back-up for the iPhone13 (Pro).
- Erase phone and set up as new phone.
- Restore from backup iPhone13 NOT from original backup (iPhone11/12 etc).
- Go to 'settings' > 'Face ID & Passcode' V 'Unlock with Apple Watch' ... now the toggle switch and connection should work!

Please let me know if it works or not!

Edit: Worked fine after lengthly backup-restore process.. (Kept Data-plan settings e-SIM , but had to rebuild the rest .. such as ApplePay , 2 factor logins , and some secure apps)

Alkmaarder
iPhone 13 Pro Max,
iOS 15.0 (19A346) < This new iOS from update , NOT the iOS 15.0 out of the box!

Apple Watch 5, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)

Apple Watch 6, 44mm (no LTE),
WatchOS 8.0 (19R346)
Click to expand...

The workaround worked for me as well. Updated my backup, reset the phone, restored the backup. The watch automatically resynced when the phone came back up. I can now enable unlock with Apple Watch and I verified that it does work.
 
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