Apple Watch Auto Unlock Questions [MERGED]

[bbates123]

And after this,(taking off two step in favor of two factor) - it all still doesn't show. Maybe it needs time?/patience? Isn't this the digital age?

What doesn't show? Were you not able to check the box that says Unlock your Mac using your Apple Watch? I've found, pretty consistently now, that you need to reboot everything after you check that box.

 

[LutzRFrank]

Updated my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012) with the card from Amazon (Screenshot below).
Feature works perfect now on 10.12.1

 

[Mw0103]

What doesn't show? Were you not able to check the box that says Unlock your Mac using your Apple Watch? I've found, pretty consistently now, that you need to reboot everything after you check that box.

I had to wait three days after making changes to my Apple ID before I could enable 2FA. There was a notification when I first tried, and they sent me an email when the waiting period was over.

 

[biosci]

What doesn't show? Were you not able to check the box that says Unlock your Mac using your Apple Watch? I've found, pretty consistently now, that you need to reboot everything after you check that box.

Okay.. I FINALLY was able to get the menu option to show up. (So yes, there was no checkbox for 'unlock your mac using your apple watch).

This is what eventually allowed it to appear late last night (Same night I turned on 2FA).

I had filevault on. I turned that off to see if it would do anything as I saw one random post that alluded to it.

I went back to general and initially didn't see anything.

2. I have an app called MacID which essentially did the same thing but on ElCapitan. I tried quitting it in the past but that didn't help. This time I turned of the searching or listening for iPhone option in the menu.

Those two items (filevault off and turning of the listening in MacID) happened within 1 minute of each other.

Now, I don't know if it was those two, or the addition of the X hours after 2FA was activated (Or perhaps a combo of the three) but switching over from the tabs back to general, the option just magically appeared for me! And now it has worked each time so far today.

BTW, once it appeared and I was able to successfully select it, I was able to turn filevault back on with no problems. I also found MacID to not be needed so I removed it from my login items as well.

Hope this post helps some... It really is annoying to have gone from these two different types of 2 'factor' authentication... Why didn't they just 'upgrade' the process from what they had originally implemented? Is the new 2FA supposedly better? Looking for the article on why Apple made the switch.

 

[jkkool]

I successfully enabled unlock with your Apple Watch feature on my iMac5k and rMBP, but there is a problem after few hours the option on mac system preferences>Security & Privacy>Allow your apple watch to unlock your Mac box unchecked after few hours and when I try to check it again it takes me to iCloud preference window and want me to give my iCloud password again and then when I go back the box get checked, I didn't noticed the time that how long it keeps this option running but when after few hours I return to my system it ask me to do this, why it happens why Apple is loosing it ecosystem.

 

[amro]

Finally got mine working. Had to unpair my watch with my iPhone and re-pair. Even though I did the upgrade and rebooted the watch several times, unpair and re-pair worked. Even got a few more questions when setting up the watch such as logging routes during workout. Never got that question when I upgraded watchOS.

 

[amro]

Had to unpair and re-pair my watch before I got it working with my mini. Yes, I rebooted dozens of times. After re-pairing, got a question about logging routes during workout. Didn't get that when I initially upgraded the watch.

 

[fruchtsaft]

So I converted my two factor authentication to the new system (iOS method as explained in the macrumors post) and for whatever reason now the checkbox has disappeared. Has anybody had this and what did you do to solve it?

Yes I did. Had exactly the same issue. Restarted iphone and apple watch, switched off hand-off, switched it back on waited until handoff feature worked again (open imessage on apple watch - wait for imessage on mac to appear in the dock). then the feature was back in the settings.

Hope to help you to bring it back in the settings. However, after I achieved that I am still not able to sign in with my watch. Just still asking for my password without any mention of the apple watch. Handoff is activated and unlock with iphone as well.

 

[bbasra]

Morning Guys - Whats the difference between BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX and BCM94360CSAX.

I have a Mid 2012 15" rMBP (1st gen Retina MacBook Pro) and not sure which one i need to upgrade - I think i need the BCM94360CSAX

Also, is it difficult to fit?

 

[bbates123]

This whole unlocking with the Apple Watch is a killer feature I think but Apple needs to make the process more smooth and consistent.

 

[Rok73]

I've got two ideas:

Initially my Mac couldn't connect to my Apple Watch to turn on this feature. I turned off and on Handoff on my iPhone once which made that work. You could also try to logout and into iCloud on your Mac and Phone once and see if one of those fixes your issue.

 

[MVPinFLA]

I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to make it work on my Retina MacBook. I was doing everything I was supposed to do; but I spent most of my time trying to get the watch to connect with the rMB Bluetooth. When I quit trying to do that, I found that it was already working like it was supposed to. I don't know how the rMB knows that the watch is nearby without BlueTooth; but it works flawlessly. I love this feature and everything about the new watch.

 

[jkkool]

I've got two ideas:

Initially my Mac couldn't connect to my Apple Watch to turn on this feature. I turned off and on Handoff on my iPhone once which made that work. You could also try to logout and into iCloud on your Mac and Phone once and see if one of those fixes your issue.

[doublepost=1474636266][/doublepost]Thats not the case, my pairing and feature working worked like a charm, all im saying that it unchecks the option from system preferences where we say it to unlock using my watch, there is one thing, im doing this on my iMac and rMbP today after Posting this thread when I turned on my mbp after 15 hours option worked and check was intact, and now when im replying i just tried to unlock my iMac after 8-9 hrs it tried and then it fails and give me password option, check mark is there and now this time it tries but fail to do so, attach are the pics
[doublepost=1474636551][/doublepost]

[doublepost=1474636266][/doublepost]Thats not the case, my pairing and feature working worked like a charm, all im saying that it unchecks the option from system preferences where we say it to unlock using my watch, there is one thing, im doing this on my iMac and rMbP today after Posting this thread when I turned on my mbp after 15 hours option worked and check was intact, and now when im replying i just tried to unlock my iMac after 8-9 hrs it tried and then it fails and give me password option, check mark is there and now this time it tries but fail to do so, attach are the pics

I've got two ideas:

Initially my Mac couldn't connect to my Apple Watch to turn on this feature. I turned off and on Handoff on my iPhone once which made that work. You could also try to logout and into iCloud on your Mac and Phone once and see if one of those fixes your issue.

Sorry second pic wasn't uploading in one reply

I've got two ideas:

Initially my Mac couldn't connect to my Apple Watch to turn on this feature. I turned off and on Handoff on my iPhone once which made that work. You could also try to logout and into iCloud on your Mac and Phone once and see if one of those fixes your issue.

sorry second pic wasn't uploading in previous reply

 

[skwood]

Turn off Back to My Mac in iCloud settings if it's on

 

[zhenya]

It uses 802.11AC wifi for proximity measurement to the watch which is much more accurate than Bluetooth.

Fortunately this has 'just worked' for me and I'm pleasantly surprised every time I walk up to my Mac and realize I don't have to enter my password. Would love to see it get a little faster though.

 

[Disneymom2003]

I installed Sierra and when I go to system preferences there is not even the option Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac? How do I get that?

 

[Rok73]

I installed Sierra and when I go to system preferences there is not even the option Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac? How do I get that?

What Mac do you have? It's only supported for models from mid 2013 or later.

 

[skwood]

I installed Sierra and when I go to system preferences there is not even the option Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac? How do I get that?

Your Apple Watch and Mac must be connected to the same iCloud account and you must have Two-Step *Authentication* enabled.

 

[Disneymom2003]

My Watch and MacBook are on the same iCloud account. How do I do the two step "authentication"?

 

[skwood]

My Watch and MacBook are on the same iCloud account. How do I do the two step "authentication"?

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204915

 

[HighFlyingBirds]

Has anyone else had problems with auto unlock since upgrading there phone to the iPhone 7?
Been running the beta with my iPhone 6S, I received my new 7 last Saturday and ever since, my mac does not unlock!
When I open the lid or wake from sleep, it says its unlocking, the wheel starts to spin, then eventually the password box appears and I have to enter my password!
Anyone else experiencing this?

 

[PCtoMAC1]

Updated my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012) with the card from Amazon (Screenshot below).
Feature works perfect now on 10.12.1

View attachment 657237 View attachment 657240

I would love to update my mid 2012 NON-RETINA MacBook Pro in order for this to work. Is it an easy change? Would you please provide the link?

 

[HighFlyingBirds]

Has anyone else had problems with auto unlock since upgrading there phone to the iPhone 7?
Been running the beta with my iPhone 6S, I received my new 7 last Saturday and ever since, my mac does not unlock!
When I open the lid or wake from sleep, it says its unlocking, the wheel starts to spin, then eventually the password box appears and I have to enter my password!
Anyone else experiencing this?

Well Ive got it working again!
When I looked in system information under bluetooth, I noticed that my 6S, 7 and Apple Watch were all listed.
Opening bluetooth preferences, did not show any devices as being listed.
First I turned off HandOff and Unlock with watch.
I then deleted the bluetooth profile by deleting this file: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
I then rebooted and enabled HandOff and Unlock and its now working again!!

 

[macrem]

I would love to update my mid 2012 NON-RETINA MacBook Pro in order for this to work. Is it an easy change? Would you please provide the link?

IMO working inside of laptops is not for the faint-hearted. If you apply a little too much pressure in the wrong place, it's very easy to accidentally rip a connector off the motherboard along with the cable. Important to have the right tools. Better yet, let a professional do it for you. Here's an example tutorial:

I have a mid-2012 MBP and am tempted to update the card (i.e., with card LutzRFrank mentioned above) to enable auto-unlock.

I'd be ready to upgrade to a newer MBP now if there were a more compelling reason. The currently new MBP models are too similar to my mid-2012 model. Mine still does everything I need to do very well except now auto unlock. Think I'll take mine to a shop to get a new ac wifi card.

 

[Disneymom2003]

What Mac do you have? It's only supported for models from mid 2013 or later.

No. The compatibility is 2010 or later mine is mid 2012.

Did the verification and it is still not there.