Your Mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch.

[Buadhai]

This on a Watch Ultra running 9.1 and an M1 iMac running 12.6.

I was easily able to set up the Ultra to unlock an old 2017 iMac running 13.0. It just worked.

I can't set up the Ultra to unlock the M1 iMac. It just doesn't work.

I've searched a bit and found many suggestions on solving this that involve restarting all devices, turning iPhone unlock of the watch off, etc.

It seems like there ought to be a fix for this that doesn't involve jumping through so many hoops. Or, am I dreaming?

BTW, I had my Watch 6 set up to unlock both iMacs. I turned that off and then back on again and it worked immediately. What's wrong with the Ultra?

 

[iamarmishra]

The same is happening after updating Apple Watch to WatchOS 9.1 today.
System Info:
2019 Macbook Pro: macOS Monterey 12.6, recently updated to some patch.
Apple Watch Series 8.
It was working before the updates.

 

[iamarmishra]

Okay, it's fixed by doing the following: (this works if you have updated your watchOS version recently)

1. On your Mac, head into System Preferences > Apple ID
2. In the bottom left of the window, all of your devices are listed
3. Look for your old Apple Watch
4. If it’s there, click on it and then hit Remove from the account (make sure you’re definitely finished with the old Watch first)
5. Return to the Apple ID screen and make sure your old Watch has been removed from the refreshed list
6. Head back to Security & Privacy > General and try ticking “Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac”

Original POST: https://bigtechquestion.com/2022/09...-unable-to-communicate-with-your-apple-watch/

 

[VampyricGentleman]

I had a similar issue upgrading my MacBook Pro 16 (2021) to one of the updates on Monterey and updating the watch at the same time.

Option 8 was the one that worked for me

 

[Buadhai]

Okay, it's fixed by doing the following: (this works if you have updated your watchOS version recently)

If it’s there, click on it and then hit Remove from the account (make sure you’re definitely finished with the old Watch first)

Original POST: https://bigtechquestion.com/2022/09...-unable-to-communicate-with-your-apple-watch/

What if you're not finished with the old watch?

And, why unlocking work with both watches on my old Intel iMac but only with the old watch on my M1 iMac?

I had a similar issue upgrading my MacBook Pro 16 (2021) to one of the updates on Monterey and updating the watch at the same time.

Option 8 was the one that worked for me

This is what I meant by: "jumping through so many hoops".