unlock mac with apple watch

Thanks for the thought. All three devices are signed into the same WiFi address and iCloud finds them all. Bluetooth is on on all three. I'm not using a VPN. Everything was working fine until it wasn't. I did not change anything--no new apps, etc.

This is a LONG running issue. It's existed through multiple updates of the MacOS, iOS, and WatchOS. Sometimes restarting everything resolves the issue, sometimes it doesn't. It doesn't seem to matter what order devices are restarted. I charge all three devices overnight, and some mornings unlocking with the watch works. Lately, it has not.

Three things bother me:

1. Failure and restoration are not consistent--there's no pattern that I can discern. This whole interaction is complex and whatever is going on is not and has not been stable.
2. The "Use Apple Watch to unlock your Mac" function in Settings-->Touch ID & Passwords never works. Instead it says that "you can sign in to iCloud using the Watch App on your iPhone." Maybe that was true five or six years ago (before I purchased an Apple Watch), but it's been bogus for years of MacOS updates. The clear message is that Apple's software engineers are asleep at the switch on this glitch.
3. I, and others, have posted numerous inquiries on this topic over the years, but the search function never finds more that a handful of them (not always the same handful). Maybe if AI was applied to the 90's search function Communities is using, the magnitude of the problem would be revealed?

I continue to be frustrated. The good news is that TouchID continues to work as expected.

Further follow up. So, this afternoon, I took off my Apple Watch and put it on its charger while I took a shower. Afterwards, it began unlocking the MacBook once again. I don't think this is a solution because I tried putting the Watch on its charger for awhile two days ago with no effect at all.

Maybe the reason Apple hasn't tracked down and fixed this bug is because it's whimsical--depends on phases of the moon or the Northern Lights or something, who knows. Oh well, I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

I do wish they do something about that ridiculous stupid error message that Settings generates though. That's just embarrassing.

On the occasions when your watch does not unlock your Mac, Settings-->Touch ID & Password-->Use Apple Watch to unlock your applications and your Mac. That switch is likely to be off. click to turn it own. It will ask for your Admin password, fail to turn on, and provide a message saying your Watch has to be signed into the same iCloud account as your Mac (how could it not be?) AND "you can sign in to iCloud using the Watch App on your iPhone." Check out the Watch App on your iPhone and see if there's any mention of signing the Watch into iCloud.

Sign into iCloud on your Mac and select the FindMy app. There's your Mac, your iPhone, AND your Watch all signed in. Dead in. If you find a consistent way to turn "Use Apple Watch to unlock your applications and your Mac" back on, please let me know ASAP. Thanks.

My wife has a MacAir and an iPhone 13. No Watch. She does have her own Apple ID. My iPhone "talks" to my watch constantly, sometimes to distraction. Findmy does a decent job of keeping our devices straight. But, supposing a household with multiple Apple users and multiple Apple Watches, that error message still wouldn't make sense. There is a process to pair an iPhone and an Apple Watch, but not a thing in the iPhone's Watch app about signing the Watch into iCloud. it's gotta be signed into whatever the iPhone is signed into, no?

Flipping that "Use Apple Watch to unlock your applications and your Mac" button in MacOS settings should unequivocally work after getting correct answers to what it really needs to know: What's the Mac's Admin ID and what Apple ID is the iPhone signed into?

This peek-a-boo feature has been bugging people for five years. It's past time to repair it.

I HAVE quoted the actual message EXACTLY above, and in several past messages over the years that the Communities search function fails to find. I don't think Apple pays attention to this forum. Certainly, they haven't updated the crummy search function in at least a decade.

This is a Mac forum, is it not?