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Scuba629

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
249
5
Has anyone gotten the auto login to work with their new MBP? I tried a few steps I found online and so far the option to enable it doesn't show up.

I have a Series 2 Watch and a fully loaded late 2016 MBP. I turned off 2 step verification and turned on 2 step authentication. Both devices are logged into the same icloud account. Both the watch and the mac have a passcode/password set for login.

Not sure what I might be missing. The touch id works great but I wanted to get the watch working too.

Thoughts?
 

ascender

macrumors 601
Dec 8, 2005
4,941
2,828
Working fine here - the only setting I had to enable was under "Security & Privacy" in System Preferences and obviously ensuring Wi-Fi was enabled.
 

Scuba629

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
249
5
yeah im guessing it should work just not sure what I might be missing.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
If it is not working, try doing reset on your Apple Watch. Push the crown in and button until the apple logo appears.
 

Scuba629

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
249
5
This may sound like a given, but you have bluetooth on, on your Mac right?

I think it is but can't fully remember. I will double check that when I get home today.

Do you know of any settings that need to be a certain way for this to work? I might unpair/pair my watch just to see if it helps. Not sure what is going on here.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
I think it is but can't fully remember. I will double check that when I get home today.

Do you know of any settings that need to be a certain way for this to work? I might unpair/pair my watch just to see if it helps. Not sure what is going on here.

Just having bluetooth on should be enough, and the setting in the security and privacy on your Mac to enable Apple Watch login.

I had it working without issue on a 12"rMB and now the 13" pro.
 

Scuba629

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
249
5
Just having bluetooth on should be enough, and the setting in the security and privacy on your Mac to enable Apple Watch login.

I had it working without issue on a 12"rMB and now the 13" pro.

ok ill double check that its turned on. Though isnt it on by default? If its not im sure this is the issue.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
ok ill double check that its turned on. Though isnt it on by default? If its not im sure this is the issue.

Oddly enough the 13" pro was the first Mac I have owned where bluetooth wasn't on by default. It through me off when I went to pair my magic keyboard and trackpad.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,666
5,879
I haven't set my machine up with this feature. Finger print is enough for me.

If you have an AW, I highly suggest you try it. It basically automatically unlocks your computer if you are within a few feet of it. Really nice if you dock your machine.
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,740
5,169
192.168.1.1
Working here on my 2016 13" non-tb MBP.

Was also working well on my old 2013 MBP. Occasionally - maybe one in 10 times - it would fail to unlock, but for the most part its pretty good. Hasn't failed yet on the new MBP but I've had it less than 24 hrs so far. One less reason to miss the TouchID sensor on my new MBP since I've almost always got my watch on. And Apple Pay on the web will also trigger a watch notification, so I don't miss the TouchID sensor on the MBP for that, either.
 

alexwei

macrumors regular
Sep 29, 2012
232
64
do you mean you turned off 2-step and turned on 2-factor? these are 2 different things. it won't work if you turned off 2-step and turned it back on
 

Scuba629

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
249
5
it is working now. I came home to check if my bluetooth was on and the option to turn it on was available. I guess it took a little bit to register or something. pretty happy now. works great!

so how do you guys use it? make a very long password? do you use the touch sensor? is your iphone set to auto unlock your watch?

sorry for all the questions just wondering most use cases.
 
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wchigo

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2015
467
218
I've actually been having problems with this feature ever since switching phones. I unpaired my Apple Watch with my 6S Plus and ever since pairing it with the iPhone 7, it hasn't worked. Every time I click the option it pops up a message saying I need to sign in to iCloud with my Apple Watch. I've checked iCloud and the watch is listed under Devices, so I have no idea what's going on...
 

bbates123

macrumors 6502a
Jul 2, 2010
848
744
In my opinion the setup for this is still overly glitchy. Sometimes the setup works right off the bat, too many times I've had to do multiple reboots of the MB and the watch. Once I had to log out of iCloud and log back in. I've set this up on about 5 different MBs now. Once it's working though it's pretty slick. I wish they would implement watch unlock for installing apps, like you can do with touchid.
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,740
5,169
192.168.1.1
I have my watch set to unlock with the unlock of my phone, but it only need to do this once when you first put it on and open the phone with your fingerprint. Convenient and I don't see it as a security issue.

I have my MBP unlock with my watch, which also is a great feature. It occasionally fails to work - not sure why - but it's only maybe 1 in 12 times. And the watch has a nice security feature where it will put up a notification (haptic, visual and audio) when the machine unlocks - so someone can't open your computer without your knowledge should you walk around the corner or something but are still in wireless range.

And with Apple Pay on the web, the Mac will ask you to double tap the side button on the watch to send the payment. The watch will also show a little animation. So I don't really miss the touchID sensor on my non-touchbar MBP.

All in all, pretty well thought out by Apple.
 

vitavo

macrumors member
Jul 8, 2009
33
13
I tried a few times to get it to work with no success, but then again i have the Touch ID MBP, which works very well. I turned off the watch unlock and gave up.
 

scotty588

macrumors 6502
Jan 2, 2007
468
61
Los Angeles, CA
I got it to work with my MBP, but I've noticed if I close the lid I then get an alert on my watch that my MBP has been unlocked. Wtf, I don't want it to unlock and basically be in clamshell mode. Then when I open the lid the computer is unlocked. Not what I want! Any way to fix this?
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,740
5,169
192.168.1.1
I got it to work with my MBP, but I've noticed if I close the lid I then get an alert on my watch that my MBP has been unlocked. Wtf, I don't want it to unlock and basically be in clamshell mode. Then when I open the lid the computer is unlocked. Not what I want! Any way to fix this?
Strange. Not supposed to work that way unless it's connected to an external display/keyboard.
Open lid, unlocks via watch. Close lid, computer locks (or times out per your settings). Definitely not the other way around.
 

scotty588

macrumors 6502
Jan 2, 2007
468
61
Los Angeles, CA
Strange. Not supposed to work that way unless it's connected to an external display/keyboard.
Open lid, unlocks via watch. Close lid, computer locks (or times out per your settings). Definitely not the other way around.
No external display or keyboard, but I did have a USB mouse connected.
 
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