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Unlock With Apple Watch iOS 14.5 Not Working

BeatsEU

BeatsEU

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 7, 2018
43
20
Bulgaria
Hello guys, I've just updated my Apple Watch to WatchOS 7.4 RC and my iPhone to 14.5 RC, restarted and removed the beta profiles afterwards. I enabled the "Unlock with AW" feature in the iPhone settings, but my phone is not unlocking even once with a mask. The watch does not give any feedback at all, I just get the regular "fail buzz" on my phone and then I'm prompted to enter my passcode.
I tried several times and it's the same every time. Restarted the phone and watch again, turned off and then re-enabled the feature, but nothing seems to work...
Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance!
Be safe.
 
I've had success several times with this procedure that I found on the internet (somewhere).

Steps:
  1. Open "Keychain Access"
  2. In "View", enable "Show Invisible Items"
  3. Search for "Auto Unlock"
  4. You should see a whole bunch of application passwords for "Auto Unlock: XXXX's ..."
  5. Select all records and delete (this will reset/disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple Macs)
  6. Whilst still in "Keychain Access", search for "AutoUnlock" (no space)
  7. There should be 4 entries for "tlk" "tlk-nonsync" "classA" "classC"
  8. Select 4 records and delete (don't worry if they re-appear, the system repairs this automatically)
  9. Open "Finder" and navigate to "~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock"
  10. There should be two files "ltk.plist" and "pairing-records.plist"
  11. Delete both files
  12. Open "System Preferences" and try enabling auto unlock. You may need to enable it twice, the first attempt will fail.

I don't know why, but it if doesn't work immediately after step 12, wait a few hours and it will be fine.
 
chabig said:
I've had success several times with this procedure that I found on the internet (somewhere).

Steps:
  1. Open "Keychain Access"
  2. In "View", enable "Show Invisible Items"
  3. Search for "Auto Unlock"
  4. You should see a whole bunch of application passwords for "Auto Unlock: XXXX's ..."
  5. Select all records and delete (this will reset/disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple Macs)
  6. Whilst still in "Keychain Access", search for "AutoUnlock" (no space)
  7. There should be 4 entries for "tlk" "tlk-nonsync" "classA" "classC"
  8. Select 4 records and delete (don't worry if they re-appear, the system repairs this automatically)
  9. Open "Finder" and navigate to "~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock"
  10. There should be two files "ltk.plist" and "pairing-records.plist"
  11. Delete both files
  12. Open "System Preferences" and try enabling auto unlock. You may need to enable it twice, the first attempt will fail.

I don't know why, but it if doesn't work immediately after step 12, wait a few hours and it will be fine.
Click to expand...
That's for unlocking the Mac, which is not what was asked in the OP.

The OP is asking about the iPhone unlocking with a mask on, which requires Apple Watch.
 
Ansath said:
That's for unlocking the Mac, which is not what was asked in the OP.

The OP is asking about the iPhone unlocking with a mask on, which requires Apple Watch.
Click to expand...
Yep, it's for unlocking the iPhone with a mask.
Passcode is enabled on the AW.
Thanks to all for the help, but I will be happy for new suggestions :\
 
Just updated to 14.5 and Watch 7.4 and after everything was enabled my phone asked for my passcode on the first attempt while wearing a mask then every time since it unlocks the phone and vibrates the watch saying the phone has been unlocked. If I click on lock phone from the watch, it locks the phone and mask unlock won't work again until I enter my passcode on the phone to unlock it.. Maybe you need to restore the phone due to some sort of corruption in the update
 
Last edited:
Just replied to someone else here on it too. I’m having the same problem. It worked like twice. Once it came up and I accidentally hit “lock” on the watch prompt. And it never worked again. It’s enabled. I’ve turned it all off an on again. I get a screen that says “unlocking” and then it asks for the passcode. Never worked again.
 
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This **** is Apple Tech at it's finest. Long time coming. Not working. All I get is this non-sensical prompt that I need to type in my passcode to unlock with Apple Watch. Then what's the Apple Watch for?!

IMG_2226.PNG
 
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I had to reboot both the Phone and Watch after their updates to allow the connection to work. Powred off both, powered on Phone then Watch.
 
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Had the same issue. I had tapped lock iphone on my watch to test that capability and then could not do a masked unlock again. Tried rebooting iPhone and Watch but still didnt work. Disabled Unlock with Apple Watch then re-enabled it and its working again. After 8 betas I hoped we wouldn’t have issues like this
 
BugeyeSTI said:
Just updated to 14.5 and Watch 7.4 and after everything was enabled my phone asked for my passcode on the first attempt while wearing a mask then every time since it unlocks the phone and vibrates the watch saying the phone has been unlocked. If I click on lock phone from the watch, it locks the phone and mask unlock won't work again until I enter my passcode on the phone to unlock it.. Maybe you need to restore the phone due to some sort of corruption in the update
Click to expand...
This is exactly how it is supposed to work. You only need to tap on the "lock phone" from the watch when the iPhone is unlocked without your consent or permission. For example, if your iPhone is stolen and gets unlocked.
 
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I turned unlock with apple watch in settings-face id and passcode, set a passcode on apple watch and thought it was all set to go. But when i've put my face mask, it didnt work. Then I went to do same steps, and saw they werent saved for some reason, even though I did it properly.

I did the steps once again and it works now.
 
It seems as if they made it a bit too secure, if you tell the watch to lock the phone (that option is a security feature, in case someone grabs the unlocked phone from you.
 
Unlock with Apple Watch worked twice yesterday, while demonstrating the feature. Today, the feature no longer works. I have restarted both iPhone and Apple Watch, disabled and enabled the feature, and still no go. I was so looking forward to this feature, only to be really disappointed.

Edit: I disabled the feature for at least 15 minutes. I have turned it on again and so far it is working. Will find out in the next couple of days if it will stop working again.... or hopefully keeps working.
 
Last edited:
I’ve been using it for a few weeks, no issues here. Actually just used it on the Tube, to post this.

It sucks for those having issues and hope it’s resolved soon.
 
anshuvorty said:
This is exactly how it is supposed to work. You only need to tap on the "lock phone" from the watch when the iPhone is unlocked without your consent or permission. For example, if your iPhone is stolen and gets unlocked.
Click to expand...
Utterly misleading. Are you saying that every time people want to test the feature, or if they press the lock button by mistake, they have to throw away the "unsafe" Apple Watch and buy a new one, and then wipe all their iPhone data or even replace their entire iPhone to continue using the feature? Even then, Apple needs to remind users of the "painful cost" of pressing this button! In my opinion, this is just a very low-level technical error and I am disappointed that Apple is still presenting such a low-level error in the official version after almost 8 Beta versions.
 
Soccermac09 said:
Utterly misleading. Are you saying that every time people want to test the feature, or if they press the lock button by mistake, they have to throw away the "unsafe" Apple Watch and buy a new one, and then wipe all their iPhone data or even replace their entire iPhone to continue using the feature? Even then, Apple needs to remind users of the "painful cost" of pressing this button! In my opinion, this is just a very low-level technical error and I am disappointed that Apple is still presenting such a low-level error in the official version after almost 8 Beta versions.
Click to expand...
This does seem how they designed it. The first time you unlock with mask and Apple Watch, it asks you for your iPhone password and will continue to work until you reboot your phone or watch. If you choose to lock your phone via the Apple Watch, the next time you go to unlock your iPhone, it will ask for your passcode, regardless of mask or not. Once you enter your passcode, it continues to work as normal. At least this is how it's working for me on my 12 Pro and S6 Watch.
 
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It works for me, but every time it unlocks music playback is interrupted for a split second with a glitch on AirPods or beats studio.

not a huge deal I’d rather have unlock working with a stupid mask.
 
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Soccermac09 said:
Utterly misleading. Are you saying that every time people want to test the feature, or if they press the lock button by mistake, they have to throw away the "unsafe" Apple Watch and buy a new one, and then wipe all their iPhone data or even replace their entire iPhone to continue using the feature? Even then, Apple needs to remind users of the "painful cost" of pressing this button! In my opinion, this is just a very low-level technical error and I am disappointed that Apple is still presenting such a low-level error in the official version after almost 8 Beta versions.
Click to expand...
You don't need to throw anything away or erase any data. All you have to do is re-enter the passcode on the phone to re-activate FaceID and unlock with watch works again.
 
mirageboss said:
I had to reboot both the Phone and Watch after their updates to allow the connection to work. Powred off both, powered on Phone then Watch.
Click to expand...

That solution worked for me. Thanks!

I've been using this feature since it's launch in beta phase and it worked well, but since I updated to the final/RC versions of iOS and watchOS, it stopped working and it was driving me nuts. Turns out, all I had to do was powering off and on both devices and now it works like a charm.
 
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