Apple Watch Auto Unlock Questions [MERGED]

[bluechair1984]

Even on "supported" hardware it doesn't work reliably. I think it's way too early to be considering hardware changes in order to try to make it work.
Who knows what the next beta will bring? Maybe what's not supported now will be supported in the next beta.

I agree, however, Apple specifically says it's only supported on the 2013+ models. You can wait all you want, but I'm almost 100% sure it wasn't a typo on their part.

For me, I was already making this change to get the AC wireless. So it just happened to coincide with my beta testing...

 

[Loismustdie1]

Yes, it appears that you need the ac card. Sounds like they are doing some kind of distance calculation with wifi instead of bluetooth.
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I'm thinking this is just a beta bug. It should be showing up for you.

I'm hoping so. The only other thing that I can think of is that even though 2FA is enabled, my Apple Watch still states that it can't receive Apple ID Verification codes. Other than that I now meet the requirements

Even on "supported" hardware it doesn't work reliably. I think it's way too early to be considering hardware changes in order to try to make it work.
Who knows what the next beta will bring? Maybe what's not supported now will be supported in the next beta.

I fully understand this is beta. However the restriction as it currently stands to enable this feature for Haswell and up is textbook Apple. Even though the IvyBridge rMBP are capable of supporting such a feature with its inclusion of BT 4.0, the lack of wireless ac and some of the energy savings that came with Haswell is more than enough reason for Apple to "justify" the late 2012/early 2013 models exclusion. I'm slightly optimistic that these models will gain support as beta testing continues, but I don't hold too much hope.

Edited for semantics

 

[xxundrclssherox]

I agree, however, Apple specifically says it's only supported on the 2013+ models. You can wait all you want, but I'm almost 100% sure it wasn't a typo on their part.

For me, I was already making this change to get the AC wireless. So it just happened to coincide with my beta testing...

I can confirm the wireless AC card piece. I already had mine installed in my 2012 rMBP before I did the upgrade to Sierra and the option showed up in the menu when I went looking for it. Hopefully Apple doesn't block this out of the 2012's out of principle since it does work with a wireless AC chip in place.

 

[Loismustdie1]

SUCCESS! As I was working this morning, I randomly got the notification this morning and lo and behold I can now use auto-unlock. It works about 75% of the time, while other times I have to enter in my password. As the beta continues its process and refinements are made, I have no doubt that this is going to be a very useful feature.

I agree, however, Apple specifically says it's only supported on the 2013+ models. You can wait all you want, but I'm almost 100% sure it wasn't a typo on their part.

For me, I was already making this change to get the AC wireless. So it just happened to coincide with my beta testing...

I totally agree with this sentiment. I disabled my wireless connection to see see if I could get the feature to work: no dice. However auto-unlock is being implemented, it seems that it is contingent on wireless ac. I look forward to clarification on Apple's part as the beta process goes on.

 

[fenderbass146]

To add to this...I also installed a Wireless AC card in my 2012 rMBP 15 and it immediately started working..a little inconsistent but thats a beta.

 

[SideStepSociety]

To add to this...I also installed a Wireless AC card in my 2012 rMBP 15 and it immediately started working..a little inconsistent but thats a beta.

I can attest to that as well.

 

[Loismustdie1]

Confirmed: Mid 2013 computers and later will receive Auto-unlock. First gen and early 2013 are left in the dark without modifications *sigh*

 

[nutmac]

Confirmed: Mid 2013 computers and later will receive Auto-unlock. First gen and early 2013 are left in the dark without modifications *sigh*

So basically, those with earlier MBP (e.g., early 2013) will need to install new AirPort card?

 

[Loismustdie1]

So basically, those with earlier MBP (e.g., early 2013) will need to install new AirPort card?

That is correct

 

[danilo_aja]

Done, install the card and immediately the option to unlock the clock works. a success.

 

[Deathyang]

Can confirm that 2012 rMacbook Pro after airport card change works with auto unlock

 

[jsawy3r]

Can confirm that 2012 rMacbook Pro after airport card change works with auto unlock

Can confirm. Replaced the AirPort card on my mid-2012 rMBP and auto-unlock worked flawlessly on DP3. It's being hit and miss on DP4, but I have no reason to think that's anything other than general bugs.

My mac was shutting down randomly after the swap, but a PRAM and SMC reset solved that.

 

[danilo_aja]

Can confirm that 2012 rMacbook Pro after airport card change works with auto unlock

Perfectly
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Can confirm. Replaced the AirPort card on my mid-2012 rMBP and auto-unlock worked flawlessly on DP3. It's being hit and miss on DP4, but I have no reason to think that's anything other than general bugs.

My mac was shutting down randomly after the swap, but a PRAM and SMC reset solved that.

everything works well for me. No problem.

 

[volcom45]

Perfectly
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everything works well for me. No problem.

Do any of you know if the following works in a late 2012 13" Retina Macbook Pro?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...ge_o00_s00?tag=macrumors-20&ie=UTF8&psc=1#Ask

I've read the questions on that link and it isn't clear whether or not it works on the 13" model. I have the late 2012 model and am hoping to make this feature work without the need to buy a new laptop or use one of the flakey 3rd party auto unlock options..

 

[AirDark]

Hi, I have a question, I have a mbp 8,1 late 2011 13' I replaced airport card with a Bluetooth 4.0card but now read on forum that for enable auto unlock the os require a wifi ac and the current card have only a/b/g/n.
So the question is, if I replace the current airport with uCard quickertek
http://www.quickertek.com/products/Ucard.html
That support the standard ac from actual chipset of macbook on a compatible card for mbp unibody... I hope for activation of autounlock

Ps sorry for my English (I'm Italian)

 

[satinsilverem2]

Hi, I have a question, I have a mbp 8,1 late 2011 13' I replaced airport card with a Bluetooth 4.0card but now read on forum that for enable auto unlock the os require a wifi ac and the current card have only a/b/g/n.
So the question is, if I replace the current airport with uCard quickertek
http://www.quickertek.com/products/Ucard.html
That support the standard ac from actual chipset of macbook on a compatible card for mbp unibody... I hope for activation of autounlock

Ps sorry for my English (I'm Italian)

I attempted to buy that card earlier this year unsuccessfully. They confirmed the order but heard nothing for three weeks. I finally cancelled the order or I think I did as I didn't ever hear back. You can try but I wouldn't expect much. There also hasn't been any actual confirmed units shipped or reviewed. Im not even sure it actually exists.

 

[AirDark]

Yes I know the history of your order, I hope for a little lucky the costumer care response quickly for a question of compatibility

 

[culb0743]

Has anyone had trouble with Handoff after upgrading to the ac card? Toggling Bluetooth and deleting the Bluetooth prefs.plist fixes it, but its a daily occurrence since swapping the N card out for ac.

 

[AirDark]

How model of mac and year have you?

 

[culb0743]

How model of mac and year have you?

10,1 as is mentioned in the OP.

 

[AirDark]

Ops ok sorry

 

[AirDark]

You can try with cat, after a clean installation... if you have many time to work with your

 

[volcom45]

Well, after no responses here or the Amazon questions, I risked it and purchased the new Airport card from Amazon and went through the iFixit steps for the 2012 Late Retina 13" MBP. End result, wasn't hard, and I now have unlock with Apple Watch. It of course will pickup a new IP address with a new MAC address which I hadn't considered, so I had many Port Forwarding rules I needed to update in my router to make everything work correctly again with the new IP address it picked up, but end result, I have the unlock with Apple Watch I wanted for under $20 and cheated buying a new MBP. Thanks for all of the info in this thread!

 

[jas07]

Has anyone got the part number for the apple airport card? Or a link to it in the UK would be great!

Don't really want to buy an after market one would prefer to get a genuine card if possible

 

[nortonandreev]

Hey guys,
I just installed iOS 10 GM on my iPhone 6, watchOS 3 GM on my Apple Watch and MacOS Sierra GM on my MacBook Pro (early-2015). Unfortunately, I can't enable the Auto Unlock feature. I tried restarting all devices, I signed out and signed in in my iCloud account, I reset the bluetooth. Nothing seems to work. I've activated two step verification as well as I've set up a passcode on my Apple Watch. Still I get "Your Mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch" error. It's not the most important thing, but still I am pissed off that I cannot get it to work. Do you have any ideas?