Apple Watch stops unlocking Mac

[archer75]

I've been having this ongoing issue I can't figure out. I have a 2018 Mac mini. Now with the Apple Watch it auto unlocks. For a day or two and then the watch will no longer unlock the Mac. And also the Mac stops seeing my phone. You know how in some apps such as mail you can tell it to import a photo from your phone and then you can take a picture of something and it will transfer to mail, that stops too.

A reboot of the mini will fix the issues for a day or two and then it stops working again. Any ideas?

 

[Blackforge]

I recently had a similar issue with my MBP, iPhone and Apple Watch. The easy fix was to change my Apple ID password. It’s been working fine ever since.

 

[jagooch]

I've had similar problems, but never found a good fix. The instructions that I have found in the past have been to log out of iCloud on all of your devices, and then log them all back in .

It very time consuming, tedious, and doesn't guarantee that it will fix the issue.

You can try changing your Apple password first, if that's easier for you.

 

[archer75]

It started working again for no apparent reason. I made no changes at all. Very strange.

 

[sngx1275]

I had this exact same thing happen to me. I disabled and re-enabled it and that didn't work. Then I powered down (rather than a restart) and logged in, then re-enabled (don't actually remember exact details so not sure whether it was enabled or disabled on the power down) then it worked fine.... for about 18 hours. Then back to not working again.

It literally says "unlocking with Apple Watch" but then instead of unlocking right after that as it used to, now nothing happens and I have to type in my password. Frustrating.

 

[udontno]

I have had some issues with this as well. It has been inconsistently unlocking my work iMac and has never unlocked my work MacBook Air. Haven’t had any issues with it unlocking my pro but the Touch ID is faster on that.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

It stopped working for me after I upgraded to the most recent WatchOS. Pretty sure that is the culprit.

 

[sngx1275]

Interesting update... Over the past 2 months I started having some problems with my AirPort Extreme, initially it started as saying my Apple password was wrong which I addressed (even though PW never changed) and then seemingly random wifi outlets dropping and not wanting to connect back, a few other isolated incidents that on their own wouldn't be bad, but combined got me thinking something is not right with the router.

Since the Airport stuff is officially dead I went with an AmpliFi HD mesh setup. Now my watch is unlocking the Mini again!

 

[macduke]

I just figured this was normal it happens so much. Normal in the sense that it's randomly buggy for everyone. Both my work MBP at work and at home, as well as my new 2019 iMac (clean install) at home will do this randomly. A reboot is the usual fix.