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Using phone to unlock watch much slower since updates

W

willdude

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
243
187
Since upgrading to iOS 14.7 and WatchOS 7.6, the functionality of unlocking your watch with your phone has changed a bit and gotten slower. Before, when I put on my watch, all I had to do was glance at my phone to do a FaceID unlock, and the watch would unlock pretty much instantly. Since the update, a FaceID unlock alone will no longer do it - now, you have to actually swipe up to go to the home screen, and a little notification will pop up at the top of the screen saying "Watch unlocking". And even then, you have to wait 5 seconds til it finally says "Watch unlocked", and if you lock the phone screen before those 5 seconds are up, the watch will stay locked.

Anyone else seeing this? Kind of annoying.
 
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Seeing the same thing here, though it’s actually about 3 seconds but not sure if that matters much …
Not sure why or what Apple did to introduce that, it seems that unlocking phone with the watch wearing a mask is still as quick as before…
For me, it impacts me only first thing in the morning, added inconvenience yes but still better than typing my 10 digit passcode
 
That is on purpose, notice the „lock“ button in the banner on the phone.
The delay is to help you prevent someone else unlocking the watch wearing it while you unlock the phone
 
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bricktop_at said:
That is on purpose, notice the „lock“ button in the banner on the phone.
The delay is to help you prevent someone else unlocking the watch wearing it while you unlock the phone
Click to expand...
well, I thought about it that way too, and I can see the "lock" button, but, on the other side of the coin, and I have never tried this, what if someone tries to unlock your phone while you a nearby wearing your unlocked watch via the "unlock with mask" process? That is instantaneously ... does FaceID do a partial scan in those instances or could someone else really unlock your phone that way? if it's the latter, then hy this to unlock the watch?
 
jz0309 said:
well, I thought about it that way too, and I can see the "lock" button, but, on the other side of the coin, and I have never tried this, what if someone tries to unlock your phone while you a nearby wearing your unlocked watch via the "unlock with mask" process? That is instantaneously ... does FaceID do a partial scan in those instances or could someone else really unlock your phone that way? if it's the latter, then hy this to unlock the watch?
Click to expand...
I’ve tested this, and anyone *wearing a mask* can unlock your phone if your watch is unlocked on your wrist. But if they’re not wearing a mask, it doesn’t work.

That’s a good point though. For the mask unlock, it’s instantaneous, but your watch shows a “lock” button so you can re-lock your phone if someone else did it. So no reason that unlocking a watch needs a delay. (I mean, having a phone inadvertently unlocked yields much more sensitive information than a watch, so it doesn’t make sense to add a delay only for the watch if security is a concern.)
 
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Using my phone to unlock my watch doesn't work at all for me after upgrading to 14.7 and watch 7.6.
 
I thought mine was broken my watch won’t unlock with phone but waited more than 5 secs and it unlocked watch. Why did Apple have to change this it was working really fast before. Dumb update.
 
Mine seems to work for a couple of days and then it doesn't unlock my watch. I restart my phone and then it works again for another couple of days. I obviously don't have a "long history" with this but this is what I've seen over the past week or so. I didn't try waiting longer like I've read above and will do so next time.
 
For me it seems to not work at all. Every single time I get the message to unlock my phone with the passcode to activate unlocking with the watch.
 
Patriks7 said:
For me it seems to not work at all. Every single time I get the message to unlock my phone with the passcode to activate unlocking with the watch.
Click to expand...
Apparently you can have one of these two features on, but not both

- Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch while wearing a face mask
- Unlock Apple Watch with iPhone as long as you're wearing it

If both are on, they're really buggy and sporadic.
 
I purposely waited for 14.7.1 before updating my iPhone XS Max. The watch unlock fails much of the time and when it works it's very slow. It was working fine with 14.6.
 
Same here…it seemed pretty flawless prior to 14.7. Now it takes multiple attempts and it looks like I have to swipe up after my phone unlocks. It would unlock my watch before 14.7 without swiping up.
 
POS! Update did not fix the issue I still cannot unlock watch with faceid either. I see a badge showing “unlocking“ but it never unlocks the watch. And it takes about 10 sec for the unlocking notice to show up. much faster just entering password. Way to go Apple!!
 
neither 14.7.1 nor 7.6.1 fixed this :confused::confused: Below is what I posted in the watchOS 7.6.1 thread earlier - join me in providing feedback to Apple!


For those of you who are annoyed by the 4-5sec delay unlocking the watch via faceid iPhone, here is what I submitted to https://apple.com/feedback - feel free to copy/paste. The more people provide feedback the better the chances they'll fix it!

Prior to iOS 14.7/watchOS 7.6 unlocking the AW was a simple process, look at the phone, it unlocks and AW is instantaneously unlocked.
Now with iOS 14.7/watchOS 7.6 I have to swipe up on the iPhone home screen, a banner pops up “unlocking watch” and it takes 4-5sec to say “watch unlocked”, and it just does not work all the time.
What’s the purpose of this feature?
Au contraire, when wearing a face mask, looking at the iPhone, it almost instantaneously unlocks the iPhone via the watch - GREAT feature!!
Why the inconsistency? Please bring back the instantaneous unlocking feature for the watch asap!
 
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I turned off the “use Apple Watch to unlock while wearing a mask” setting…my watch unlocks instantly and without swiping now.

Edit: I’m on 7.6.1 and 14.7…I think I’ll wait to upgrade to 14.7.1
 
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pete480 said:
I turned off the “use Apple Watch to unlock while wearing a mask” setting…my watch unlocks instantly and without swiping now.
Click to expand...
that is interesting, got to try it ... if I remember where that eating is :p
just why now, after 6 or more (?) months after introducing that feature :rolleyes:
 
pete480 said:
I turned off the “use Apple Watch to unlock while wearing a mask” setting…my watch unlocks instantly and without swiping now.
Click to expand...
Good find!
Could not remember where then I found it
unselected the

Face Id &Passcode
unlock with Watch- your watch

in case others want to try

No click sound too: it could be a nice bug 😉
BTW Yesterday I had to try few times wearing the mask because it didn't unlock right away like it did at home
 
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