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Watch not unlocking via iPhone unlock after iOS 14.7.1 install

iPhone 11 Pro, iOS 14.7.1, Watch Series 4, WatchOS 7.6: had sporadic issues under iOS 14.7 but 14.7.1 killed the Watch unlock entirely. Tried toggling on/off the settings and power-cycling both iPhone and Watch. No joy.

Apple Watch Series 4, watchOS 7

Posted on Jul 29, 2021 5:08 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 29, 2021 3:20 PM

There appears to be a bug. I'm sure there will be yet-another patch released in the near future (weeks at most).


At the moment some users cannot unlock their Apple Watch using the passcode. These tend to be corporate users with management profiles installed that require using the iPhone to unlock the Apple Watch. These users would benefit from turning off the "Unlock with Apple Watch" Covid-19 mask wearing option.


I for example, can do a dance that allows me to have the Unlock with Apple Watch enabled and unlock my Apple Watch with my iPhone, but the dance has to be down just right and there is a very narrow window to start and complete the dance.

  • iPhone off (blank screen)
  • Raise Apple Watch and wait for numeric passcode lock screen to appear
  • As soon as you see the Apple Watch numeric passcode lock screen, wake the iPhone, and unlock it.

If you let the iPhone wake before the Apple Watch passcode screen appears, it will not work. If you wait too long, after the passcode screen appears, it will not work.


This is also not an option for finger print ID based iPhones. I think on those models, it just does not work unless the "Unlock with Apple Watch" is disabled. I do not have a Finger Print ID iPhone any longer, so I cannot test and verify.


So if you can get my narrow window dance to work for you, then you can have both. If you cannot get the dance to work, then you have to decide for the next few days/weeks which feature is more important to you.


Once Apple fixes this, you will be able to have both.

8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 29, 2021 3:20 PM in response to michaeltvolpe

There appears to be a bug. I'm sure there will be yet-another patch released in the near future (weeks at most).


At the moment some users cannot unlock their Apple Watch using the passcode. These tend to be corporate users with management profiles installed that require using the iPhone to unlock the Apple Watch. These users would benefit from turning off the "Unlock with Apple Watch" Covid-19 mask wearing option.


I for example, can do a dance that allows me to have the Unlock with Apple Watch enabled and unlock my Apple Watch with my iPhone, but the dance has to be down just right and there is a very narrow window to start and complete the dance.

  • iPhone off (blank screen)
  • Raise Apple Watch and wait for numeric passcode lock screen to appear
  • As soon as you see the Apple Watch numeric passcode lock screen, wake the iPhone, and unlock it.

If you let the iPhone wake before the Apple Watch passcode screen appears, it will not work. If you wait too long, after the passcode screen appears, it will not work.


This is also not an option for finger print ID based iPhones. I think on those models, it just does not work unless the "Unlock with Apple Watch" is disabled. I do not have a Finger Print ID iPhone any longer, so I cannot test and verify.


So if you can get my narrow window dance to work for you, then you can have both. If you cannot get the dance to work, then you have to decide for the next few days/weeks which feature is more important to you.


Once Apple fixes this, you will be able to have both.

Aug 1, 2021 8:51 AM in response to Lew-Bob

Lew-Bob wrote:

Chatted with Apple Support and after unpairing and then paired it back (and restored pairing from backup) my Apple Watch and iPhone are working perfectly even with VPN on. Don’t know if VPN had anything to do with it or if just unpairing and pair again fixed it but give it a try.

Unpairing and then pairing again, turns off "Unlock with Apple Watch", which also fixes the problem in a few seconds instead of the half hour or so the unpairing/pairing takes.

Watch not unlocking via iPhone unlock after iOS 14.7.1 install

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