Two weeks ago Watch stopped unlocking MacBook. After attempting fix I eventually called Apple Service and it was straightened out by tech. Today the unlocking feature stopped working again. What could I be doing? All OS are up-to-date as was checked by Apple Service. Is a MacBook Pro 2015 model destined to slowly disintegrate?
Unlock with Apple Watch has always been rather picky about WiFi connections - and easy to disable accidentally. I suggest you reboot both your Apple Watch and the problem MacBook, and check the settings for the unlock function in both devices. Then make sure you have a good WiFi link to both devices on the same frequency band of your WiFi. I have noticed it often fails for me if my router is working both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and the watch and MacBook happen to latch onto different bands.
Unlock with Apple Watch has always been rather picky about WiFi connections - and easy to disable accidentally. I suggest you reboot both your Apple Watch and the problem MacBook, and check the settings for the unlock function in both devices. Then make sure you have a good WiFi link to both devices on the same frequency band of your WiFi. I have noticed it often fails for me if my router is working both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and the watch and MacBook happen to latch onto different bands.
After several weeks of the watch unlocking my Mac, it suddenly stopped working. So, restarted MacBook Pro (M1 Max, Ventura 13.4.1), iPhone 13 (iOS 16.5.1), AND Watch 5 (WatchOS 9.5.2). Doesn't help. This is a VERY OLD BUG!!
Why does the MacOS continue to assert "Watch must be signed into iCloud to allow it to unlock your Mac. You can sign in using the Apple Watch app on your iPhone." That's a bug in itself. There IS NO iCLOUD sign in within the Watch app. The Watch and the phone ARE communicating with each other AND Find Devices on the Watch does find the MacBook Pro!
At least once, I've had to resort to completely reinstalling the Watch (time consuming!!) in order to fix this. Does anyone have a better idea? It seems like the MacOS coding team isn't paying attention (per the misleading and wrong response in System Preferences).
Not helpful. All 3 devices are on the same band. As a check, I restarted the router. It had no effect. Devices on different bands should not matter.
Apple Watch stopped unlocking Macbook
