Unlock Mac With Watch

[lordofthereef]

I am having a heck of a time getting this feature to work. Yes I set up two factor authentication and everything that every tutorial online ever said. I am starting to believe my Mac may be too old. I have seen a list out there, but unsure if it is conclusive.

Anyway I have a late 2011 MBP. Compatible or no?

 

[surferfb]

Your computer is too old.

Requires a Mac released in mid-2013 or later; I'm in the same boat.

https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/macos-sierra-apple-watch-unlock/

 

[AppleFan360]

I have a newer iMac (2014) and MacBook pro (2015) and it worked at first and then it just stopped. The option disappeared from both of my computers. I went through the steps (two factor authentication, latest OS's, etc) but the option never came back. I pretty much gave up for now unless someone has any suggestions.

 

[BLuRRnAWAY]

If your computer is asleep it'll work. If you turn it on from off you'll have to enter password (just like turning iPhone on, you have to enter passcode not use fingerprint)

The way it works is through using peer-to-peer Wi-Fi where can measure how long at the speed of light it’s taking for the signal to travel from your Mac to your watch and back.

 

[MBHockey]

phew, just made it with my Mid 2013 MBA. Works perfectly on it!

 

[Jefe's MacAir]

I had many issues. I was able to get everything working by signing out and then signing back in to my iCloud accounts and restarting all my devices. Make sure to sign back in to your iCloud account with the Apple Watch. You need to go the the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and sign in.

Only works intermittently for me. Often times it says "unlocking with Apple Watch" only for the password box to appear and I have to use my password.

 

[AppleFan360]

Make sure to sign back in to your iCloud account with the Apple Watch. You need to go the the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and sign in.

Oh crap! I just noticed that I wasn't signed in on the Apple Watch app. I just signed in and will try the unlock again on my Mac when I get home. Thanks for that!

 

[lordofthereef]

Your computer is too old.

Requires a Mac released in mid-2013 or later; I'm in the same boat.

https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/macos-sierra-apple-watch-unlock/

Appreciate this. I had a feeling this was the case. I recall missing out something about continuity feature for the same reasons but I didn't care as much because our mac isn't really a work station and I check all alerts in my phone. Oh well. Glad to be getting updates five years down the road.

My bigger gripe is that they dropped support for windows 10. I had to manually piece together drivers. Doable just a pita. Anyway the computer runs just fine both in windows and OS X so I don't see myself upgrading for another few years at least. Heck they might drop OS X support and I'd still keep going.