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Apple Watch no longer unlocking Mac after Ventura 13.3 installation? [MERGED]

Ready-for-Apple said:
You mean Post #15. 😉

@f00f
Did you try the steps which I linked in Post #15?
Since following the steps unlocking MBA M1 macOS 13.3 with AW7 watchOS 9.4 and Handoff between these and iPhone iOS 16.4 works fine. 😃

✌🏻 with greetings from 🇩🇪
Click to expand...

@Ready-for-Apple I did now :)
I actually don't use iCloud Keychain -- never have, likely never will, as I use a third-party password manager for years. As far as I can tell, the only requirements for AutoUnlock to work properly is to be signed into the same iCloud account on the devices and to have 2FA enabled (per Apple's doc).

In any case, I did the steps and it seems to be sane again. We'll see if it persists thru reboots later. Thanks for the tips!!
 
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Gory details on why/how unlock with Watch uses Keychain (not to be confused with iCloud Keychain, but to be fair, the distinction has been blurring more and more).

System security for watchOS

Apple Watch uses the security features for iOS to protect the watch’s data and its communication with the paired iPhone and the internet.
support.apple.com

So even if not storing site passwords in Keychain/iCloud Keychain, lots of other system stuff is using Keychain on Mac.
 
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One of my devices, my M2 MBA, was continuing to have trouble specifically with Handoff -- while my iPhone, iPad and Mac Studio seemed fine.

Handoff stores its encryption/decryption keys within Keychain as well (iCloud Keychain not required -- these are in the login keychain). There will be an encryption key for the device itself and then any number of decryption keys for each of your other devices. If you're having trouble with Handoff on a Mac you may try:
  1. Fire up Keychain Access.app
  2. Search for "handoff" -- you should find one encryption key (for the host you're currently on), and 0 or more decryption keys (1 each per other device).
  3. Delete them all.
  4. Either kill the sharingd process in Activity Monitor or the shell, or reboot.
Fire up Keychain Access.app again after bouncing sharingd (or rebooting) and search for "handoff". You should see the host's own (new) encryption key. Now visit your other devices that have Handoff enabled and open a webpage or something that is Handoff-able. Within Keychain Access.app you should see a decryption key spring into existence for that other device. Of course you should also see that Handoff-able thing on that Mac, e.g. Safari in the Dock.


1680279419723.png
 
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Along the lines of ~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock folder, there is a ~/Library/Sharing/AirDropHashDB folder that seems to have a similar type role.

Since just mucking with Keychain seems to have cleared Handoff issues, might not need to deal with the folder. But if Keychain edit does not fix the problem...

(Can't vouch for my pure speculation as I don't knowingly use AirDrop and therefore have never had issues)

NVM
 
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I had similar issue when upgraded to Ventura GA. After a couple of days, I found that my Apple Watch and MBP were on a different WiFi network (I have a bunch of WiFi SSIDs for different purposes). Once they joined the same network, it started working again. After that, I never had any issues with every single upgrade, including the latest 13.3.
 
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Rick America said:
Anyone else see this problem? After upgrading my M1 Air to Ventura 13.3 yesterday (in addition to upgrading iPhone to iOS 16.4 and Apple Watch to watchOS 9.4), I find my Apple Watch is no longer unlocking M1 Air. My Mac recognizes that my watch is there when waking up, but it will not unlock and flips me too the touch-id or password screen.
Click to expand...
Same problem here. I manage to get it to work once, then it stops after the computer either sleeps or I shut the lid. Really irritating since the Touch ID isn't all that reliable.
 
Not sure if this is a related issue: I used to be able to simply place my finger on the Touch ID sensor and it would unlock the computer and bring up the desktop. But since updating to Ventura 13.3, placing my finger on the Touch ID sensor when my Mac is asleep no longer unlocks the computer. Now, I have to hit a key on the keyboard or click on the trackpad to bring up the lock screen before it will accept Touch ID input. This extra step wasn't an issue until updating to 13.3. Anybody else experiencing this?

Using a 2023 16-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro.
 
DocBrownMacMan said:
Not sure if this is a related issue: I used to be able to simply place my finger on the Touch ID sensor and it would unlock the computer and bring up the desktop. But since updating to Ventura 13.3, placing my finger on the Touch ID sensor when my Mac is asleep no longer unlocks the computer. Now, I have to hit a key on the keyboard or click on the trackpad to bring up the lock screen before it will accept Touch ID input. This extra step wasn't an issue until updating to 13.3. Anybody else experiencing this?

Using a 2023 16-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...
MBA M1 works as usual
 
DocBrownMacMan said:
Not sure if this is a related issue: I used to be able to simply place my finger on the Touch ID sensor and it would unlock the computer and bring up the desktop. But since updating to Ventura 13.3, placing my finger on the Touch ID sensor when my Mac is asleep no longer unlocks the computer. Now, I have to hit a key on the keyboard or click on the trackpad to bring up the lock screen before it will accept Touch ID input. This extra step wasn't an issue until updating to 13.3. Anybody else experiencing this?

Using a 2023 16-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...
Still works as expected for me (M1 MBA).
Watch unlock sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Really weird...
 
mattfro said:
I got it...log out and in to icloud on mac then toggle the switch to unlock with watch. After that it worked. :)
Click to expand...
It seems to work for 1 watch, but if you have 2 watches, I think you have to go through this scenario twice. AND THEN it broke my iCloud sync. Had to resync all files manually. Have I missed a trick with this, or is there an easier way to get the watch(es) to work again?
 
Since updating to 13.3 the handoff is very unreliable, after a reboot it works for a while and suddenly stops. Universal Clipboard, safari handoff, nothing works. Maybe it's related?
 
I used the steps in post #10 and it started working again after a reboot.
 
chabig said:
This used to work, but I can't make any promises:

Steps (follow at your own discretion)
  1. Open "Keychain Access"
  2. In "View", enable "Show Invisible Items"
  3. Search for "Auto Unlock"
  4. You should see a whole bunch of application passwords for "Auto Unlock: XXXX's ..."
  5. Select all records and delete (this will reset/disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple Macs)
  6. Whilst still in "Keychain Access", search for "AutoUnlock" (no space)
  7. There should be 4 entries for "tlk" "tlk-nonsync" "classA" "classC"
  8. Select 4 records and delete (don't worry if they re-appear, the system repairs this automatically)
  9. Open "Finder" and navigate to "~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock"
  10. There should be two files "ltk.plist" and "pairing-records.plist"
  11. Delete both files
  12. Open "System Preferences" and try enabling auto unlock. You may need to enable it twice, the first attempt will fail.
It seems not to work at first, and then a few hours later it will be fine. Maybe it has to sync with iCloud. I don’t know.
Click to expand...
.
Thanks a lot!!

is working perfect for me
.
 
I spoke too soon. While the steps in post #10 worked at first, they have now stopped working again.
 
My feedback report has been updated to say there's been more than 10 similar reports and "Potential fix identified - For a future OS update", so hopefully help is on the way.
 
Robort said:
My feedback report has been updated to say there's been more than 10 similar reports and "Potential fix identified - For a future OS update", so hopefully help is on the way.
Click to expand...
How do you get that?
Cause I didn’t get any info that there are similar bug reports:
1680800116408.png
 
mattfro said:
I got it...log out and in to icloud on mac then toggle the switch to unlock with watch. After that it worked. :)
Click to expand...
I tried this yesterday and it worked for a couple hours until it didn't work again. Tried it again today, working so far but not sure how long it will last.
 
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