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Just updated Watch OS now it won't open my Macbook air

R

raylo32

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 9, 2018
339
418
Apple Watch 8

What the subject line says. I verified on the Macbook Air that "open with watch" is checked. I unchecked it and re checked it. Didn't help. So I need help.
 
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raylo32 said:
Apple Watch 8

What the subject line says. I verified on the Macbook Air that "open with watch" is checked. I unchecked it and re checked it. Didn't help. So I need help.
Click to expand...
My first step to troubleshoot would be restart the watch and the Mac.

Hopefully that will work if not, I’m not sure
 
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Sorry, I forgot to mention that I already tried rebooting the MacBook and it didn't help. Not sure how to reboot the watch. I'll have to google it.
 
Rebooting the Watch didn't work, either. LOL. Is this a PC or something?
 
OK, I went back into the Mac settings and the unlock with watch box was unchecked this time. So I checked it and it says "synching" for like 45 seconds and then says the Mac was unable to communicate with the watch, make sure it is on my wrist, powered on and unlocked. It is all 3. Still doesn't work. And meanwhile the Watch and the phone keep getting along together perfectly.

Maybe I need to ask this question in the MacBook forum. Seems more of a Mac issue than a watch issue.

First I'll try rebooting the mac again now that the watch has been rebooted.
 
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Nope, didn't work. Watch OS 9.3 has destroyed the linkage to my MacBook Air M2.
 
raylo32 said:
OK, I went back into the Mac settings and the unlock with watch box was unchecked this time. So I checked it and it says "synching" for like 45 seconds and then says the Mac was unable to communicate with the watch, make sure it is on my wrist, powered on and unlocked.
Click to expand...
I've had this happen a while back (WatchOS 7 maybe?). I think I just gave up and at some point it started working again. It was frustrating!
 
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FWIW, this was also happening to me on an AW6 and 2017 MBP. Rebooting both devices solved it in my case, at least for now... This "unlocking with Apple Watch" is one of my favorite features of anything Apple, so the inconsistency is definitely aggravating. Good luck.
 
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Working again. I rebooted the MacBook again (like for the 3rd or 4th time) and this time when I clicked "unlock with Watch" the synching took a long time but eventually completed successfully... BUT the watch STILL wouldn't unlock the Mac. So, I unchecked that box, then checked it again and this time it synched instantly. Now it works again. Hopefully this doesn't happen again. Sheesh.
 
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I dealt with this problem yesterday, and according to an Apple doc I found, the process is this> Uncheck the "open with watch" in system settings. Reboot the Mac. When it comes back up, re-enable the "open with watch" setting and it *should* sync and begin working again. At least it did work for me. YMMV.
 
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