Cannot enable 'unlock your Mac with apple watch' feature

Question

AdamC2011 Author

Level 1

8 points

Cannot enable 'unlock your Mac with apple watch' feature

This feature was working fine up until a couple of weeks ago, but now the option is switched off in settings and refuses to switch back on. I've followed all the instructions on the site, my watch and Mac and iPhone are all logged into the same iCloud account, they are all on the same network. I've unpaired and re-paired the watch, restarted my Mac and restarted my phone. I've checked that they all have the latest updates. But I still cannot enable the feature, it just flips straight back to off.

Apple Watch Series 7

Posted on Aug 17, 2023 05:02 AM

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Answer 1

AdamC2011 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 17, 2023 06:49 AM in response to Randall_2023

Thanks, but I can't disable the unlock feature because I can't enable it in the first place - that's the problem. I've tried shutting everything down and it makes no difference. Thanks anyway.

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Answer 2

Aug 17, 2023 05:14 AM in response to AdamC2011

This was offered by another contributor here. Don't recall who but give this a try:

Apple watch won’t unlock Ventura

Disable the Apple Watch unlock feature on Ventura, shutdown completely (System Settings, TouchID & Password, Use Apple watch to unlock your applications and Mac.)

Power back up and turn it back on. Then lock the screen and test. Should work again. This also seems to fix problems where the Apple Watch wasn't working for unlocking things or logging into Apple Discussions, etc.

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Answer 3

L Shukla

Level 1

12 points

Jan 12, 2024 10:25 AM in response to AdamC2011

After reading this post (because I was having same problem), I restarted my Air, and that fixed it. I went to settings and the switch that previously would not turn on was automatically already turned on. Apple Watch now unlocking, no problem. Hopefully it will stay that way!

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