Unlock with Apple Watch Questions

[petterihiisila]

Wonder if you're hitting a 2.4G/5G issue with wifi with the iPhone/Watch. Do both of your wifi networks have the same SSID?

Well I did hit that problem initially, that's what sparked the troubleshooting. I didn't get the green cloud icon when bluetooth was off. The fix for that was to use the same Time Capsule SSID for both 2.4/5 GHz, "forget" and re-enter the network on the phone. After a few restarts the green cloud icon finally kept showing after disabling Bluetooth. Success in that regard.

.. And just by accident iWatch started automatically unlocking the 2015 MacBook 12" too. 100% reliable

Then I turned bluetooth back on, and "Watch not found" messages appear every time. That's the status I'm at now. Latest beta versions in use of course.

On the late 2014 iMac 5k it's different. iPhone bluetooth state doesn't seem to make a difference. Auto unlock works about every 5th or 10th time. Console talks about "Ranging Timeout" with an ambiguous error code, and unlock fails even when the Console text seems to indicate the Watch was found and is in range. It appears it will try up to 5 times before the user must unlock with a password.

I've done the usual iCloud sign out/in tricks and started with a clean slate in July, in that regard things should be fine. Watch recently re-paired with the phone.

 

[fischersd]

On the late 2014 iMac 5k it's different. iPhone bluetooth state doesn't seem to make a difference. Auto unlock works about every 5th or 10th time. Console talks about "Ranging Timeout" with an ambiguous error code, and unlock fails even when the Console text seems to indicate the Watch was found and is in range. It appears it will try up to 5 times before the user must unlock with a password.

So you're using your watch to unlock two different Mac's then? (Didn't someone say that there's a problem with that? - that might no longer be true...that was some time ago).

 

[petterihiisila]

So you're using your watch to unlock two different Mac's then?

Yes. It has worked on both, albeit unreliably.

 

[fischersd]

Yes. It has worked on both, albeit unreliably.

Yep, just took at look in the dev forums and there's a couple guys that have it working on multiple Macs since Beta 5.

Interesting, some one posted this (Kane's MacID):
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macid/id948478740

Heh, so for $4, anyone with a Mac that doesn't support the feature can have the functionality.

 

[petterihiisila]

Then I turned bluetooth back on, and "Watch not found" messages appear every time. That's the status I'm at now. Latest beta versions in use of course.

Now at the office it seems to work fine even when Bluetooth is on. Go figure... One difference is that here I'm using the company-provided 2.4 GHz WiFi. At home it's the latest Time Capsule with 2.4/5 GHz on a single SSID. I can't think of other factors that would have an effect. Too bad the Apple feedback system doesn't have a way to add comments. Hopefully they'll look at it and ask for more info.

 

[fischersd]

Now at the office it seems to work fine even when Bluetooth is on. Go figure... One difference is that here I'm using the company-provided 2.4 GHz WiFi. At home it's the latest Time Capsule with 2.4/5 GHz on a single SSID. I can't think of other factors that would have an effect. Too bad the Apple feedback system doesn't have a way to add comments. Hopefully they'll look at it and ask for more info.

I wonder if you disabled your 5GHz network (if you can?) if the problem wouldn't disappear entirely? Have you checked the firmware revision in your Time Capsule and checked for updates? Maybe it's an issue with that specific firmware (something else Apple would want to know). You could always use the feedback page and reference your original bug report to send additional information - http://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html
I'm sure they'll get the information routed to the WatchOS dev teams.

 

[petterihiisila]

I wonder if you disabled your 5GHz network (if you can?) if the problem wouldn't disappear entirely?

That helped. Now it logs in 5 times out of 5 on the rMB with bluetooth on. Even turned 5 GHz back on and it STILL works. Oh my. Hands crossed it still works tomorrow.

 

[fischersd]

Ok, here's one that'll make you go "WTF?!" Updated to the new beta release and boom, unlocking with Apple Watch is no longer working. Deactivate / reactivate, log in/out of iCloud, nope, no change.
So, I needed to re-apply my /S/L/E/AppleSMCLMU.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AmbientLightSensorHID.plugin from El Capitan (as I happen to like my backlit keyboard). The last two updates, I haven't had to copy the Plugin back in...just had to touch the directory and run kext utility to recreate the kernel cache. Had to copy it back in this time.
And, lo and behold, I can once again unlock with Apple Watch.

Anyone have an idea why that would make a difference? How the hell is that related??

 

[hArrisburger]

I am also having issues since updating to the latest beta. I did have it working previously. And have disabled/enabled the setting in security and privacy, but it still is not working.

 

[gwhizkids]

Does anyone know if the unlock feature will work on an iMac with multiple users accounts? Only one account (mine) would be using the feature.

 

[fischersd]

Does anyone know if the unlock feature will work on an iMac with multiple users accounts? Only one account (mine) would be using the feature.

(only answering as no-one with multi-user has yet) . You're going to need to be logged in already. In terms of fast user switching, it'll be interesting to see how it works. Heh. Maybe I should create a couple dummy accounts and test that. Hmm.
...goes to test that
Edit: Ok, it doesn't work as awesome as one would hope. In multi-user fast-switching mode, you still have to enter your password if you're not the foreground/active user. If you are the active user, it'll just unlock.
Obviously, the best way would be if it just recognized you guys - if you had an entire family with apple watches, but, nope, it's not working like that (maybe later).

 

[hArrisburger]

Update: I toggled the "Allow Apple Watch to Unlock" on my MacBook and rebooted each device. Then toggled back on and that seemed to do the trick. Working pretty well now!

 

[fischersd]

That helped. Now it logs in 5 times out of 5 on the rMB with bluetooth on. Even turned 5 GHz back on and it STILL works. Oh my. Hands crossed it still works tomorrow.

You should have a look over here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-12-sierra-all-the-little-things.1977110/page-29
It turns out there's an issue with the BroadCom drivers that has existed for quite some time - @StarkerMann pointed it out.
That would certainly explain the strangeness you've found with the co-existence of the BT and Wifi radios.

Apple needs to fix their drivers.

 

[fischersd]

Here's a fun one! . Unlocking with Apple Watch had been working spectacularly (virtually 100% of the time) for several days. Yesterday morning - boom. Try toggling it on and off, nope. Log out and into iCloud - nope (and, now I can't re-enable it!). So, then I try the CAT tool (beta) - have backups of my IOBluetooth and IO80211 kexts, so figure why not (it seemed to help enable it last time). Using option 1 - it patched my ContinuitySupport (wherever it does that ) - anyone know?

Edit: Added more detail over on the CAT thread. Maybe someone can fill in the missing pieces as to what else I need to get it rolling again. Heh. Or maybe Apple just broke iCloud in this build so bad that I've been beating my head against the wall for nothing.