Apple Watch removed from Apple ID still appears in macOS Security

[SaguaroSeven]

TL;dr - A "retired" Apple Watch still shows in my macOS system prefs - Security & Privacy, as available to unlock mac and apps.

Details:
I erased an Apple Watch some weeks ago. It was still listed in iCloud Devices yesterday, so I "Removed from Account." It no longer appears in iCloud, however it still appears as an unlock option in System Prefs, Security. This has persisted across restarts and Safe Mode, on both a Catalina and Mojave Mac.

Why would this be the case, and how can i remove it from here? Thanks everyone.

 

[a.jfred]

I was so hoping to find an answer in this thread. I'm having the same issue with a S4 I erased/unpaired yesterday. It's 100% not in my iCloud (and hasn't been in >24 hours), but still shows up in my Security & Privacy as available to unlock my Mac (which is kinda funny, given that the update broke that feature for it).

Were you ever able to find anything out/get assistance elsewhere for this issue?

 

[SaguaroSeven]

Well, I did solve it, but it required re-pairing to to iPhone, then removing it. I charged it up, paired it normally as a new watch (pretty sure I didn't use a backup). When complete, I unpaired it and removed it from Find My app, then checked my Apple ID too (it was already gone there). This process removed my active Apple Watch from the security pane on both my Macs, too. Fortunately, I did this before shipping the Watch off to new owner.

I've been in touch with Apple Engineering on a separate issue (Mac waking up/unlocking when I am in another room!) and they didn't have any understanding of why two AW's might be on that panel. They said something might be wrong because that system pref didn't look correct.

If that doesn't work, or if you don't ave access to the stuck watch, I'd look into this process of removing Auto Unlock records from Keychain. That worked for me when I could not activate watch unlock on watchOS 7. My Keychain had a lot of old/duplicate AW and Mac records, which could be related to the my watch stuck problem.

watchOS 7 Beta 5 - unlock mac doesn't work

I've finally fixed it! I found a bunch of errors related to "AutoUnlock" in the Console that was hinting to me that there was some invalid state on my Mac with keys and plists not being reset properly. After clearing/resetting them, I can now successfully pair my watchOS 7 Series 3 to macOS...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[a.jfred]

Well, I did solve it, but it required re-pairing to to iPhone, then removing it. I charged it up, paired it normally as a new watch (pretty sure I didn't use a backup). When complete, I unpaired it and removed it from Find My app, then checked my Apple ID too (it was already gone there). This process removed my active Apple Watch from the security pane on both my Macs, too. Fortunately, I did this before shipping the Watch off to new owner.

I've been in touch with Apple Engineering on a separate issue (Mac waking up/unlocking when I am in another room!) and they didn't have any understanding of why two AW's might be on that panel. They said something might be wrong because that system pref didn't look correct.

If that doesn't work, or if you don't ave access to the stuck watch, I'd look into this process of removing Auto Unlock records from Keychain. That worked for me when I could not activate watch unlock on watchOS 7. My Keychain had a lot of old/duplicate AW and Mac records, which could be related to the my watch stuck problem.

watchOS 7 Beta 5 - unlock mac doesn't work

I've finally fixed it! I found a bunch of errors related to "AutoUnlock" in the Console that was hinting to me that there was some invalid state on my Mac with keys and plists not being reset properly. After clearing/resetting them, I can now successfully pair my watchOS 7 Series 3 to macOS...

forums.macrumors.com

And I just shipped mine off (after confirming that it's nowhere in my FMIP/iCloud, etc). I'll check out the "removing it from Keychain" thread.

Thank you!