Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

usagora

macrumors 601
Original poster
Nov 17, 2017
4,919
4,514
UPDATE: Ok, someone just informed me on another forum that I'm supposed to be pressing the side button, not the digital crown. I just assumed it would be the crown that the prompt was referring to, since it's so prominent. Will test when I get home, but I'm sure it will work now....but I'm still not sure why it won't unlock from the login screen....

This is my first time trying to use this feature, and it's not working. This is my new 2019 iMac and I'm on macOS 10.15.5 and watchOS 6.2.5. In System Preferences > Security & Privacy I have "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac" selected. Two-Factor Authentication is on for my Apple ID.

So, say I now go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy again and click the lock icon on the bottom left. Immediately I get a notification on my Apple Watch prompting me to double-click (the digital crown) to approve. However, when I do so, nothing happens. The window that says "System Preferences is trying to unlock Security & Privacy preferences" doesn't go away, and I am forced to click the Use Password button.

So I tried restarting both my Mac and Apple Watch. When I got the login screen, it said I had to enter my password to enable unlock with Apple Watch after restarting. So I did so. However, when I tried to unlock the Security & Privacy preferences again, it still didn't work. Also, I tried logging out and then logging back in again, and there is not even an option to log in using the Apple Watch. I also tried disabling and re-enabling the "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac" option but that didn't fix it either.

What gives?

Note: My Apple Watch DOES automatically unlock the iMac when resuming from display sleep or screen saver, but it's not working to approve within apps and also not working when logging on.
 
Last edited:
My watch for some unknown reason "forgot" the wifi password, and until I went in the watch settings and reset it, it wasn't being triggered from the Mac. Once I told it to connect to the wifi again (and entered the password on the watch- which makes no sense), it started working again. YMMV
 
Ok, someone just informed me on another forum that I'm supposed to be pressing the side button, not the digital crown. I just assumed it would be the crown that the prompt was referring to, since it's so prominent. Will test when I get home, but I'm sure it will work now...was also informed that for security purposes, Apple Watch can't be used to log in after a user is logged out.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.