mac4mac.co.uk

Just replaced my Watch 6 with a 9. It wasn't smooth and seemed to restart the restore but all seemed OK. However, it won't unlock my iMac any more. This has always worked between Mac and Watch changes.

I tried system Settings > Touch ID & Password > Apple Watch but the slider flips back to off and I am informed: Your Apple Watch must be signed in to iCloud to allow it to unlock your Mac. You can sign in using the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.

As far as I can tell, the Watch is signed in. It says so on the iPhone app and shows in Find My on other devices. Bluetooth and wifi are active on all hardware just as it was before.

I have done some searching on that message and I have tried the "fixes" like deleting lines from Keychain Access, turning stuff off/on (first thing I tried) and turning off the 5GHz wifi to put them on the same 2.4GHz band.

Any suggestions, because I must be missing something? It should just work. Probably something so obvious I missed it. Maybe it will reactivate when I migrate the iMac to Sonoma in a few hours. If I have to reset the watch, I will, but later.

When I've had this happen inn the past (can't remember wording in the message) it usually required logging out (user account) on the Mac.

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MacPro (2010) quad core macOS 10.15.7
13" (2011) Macbookpro OSX 10.10.3
15" (2017) Macbookpro OS 13.3
iPhone 11 iOS16
Original iPad wifi

I thought restarting the iMac would have done that but I can try Apple menu > Log Out me. I'll try later and thanks for the suggestion.

Have you restarted your Watch?

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I'm never wrong, I'm just less right on occasions.

First thing. The Watch, iPhone and iMac. I've turned off the need for the password for now as I'm the only beggar in the house. As I mentioned, the only thing was a hiccup during setup but that seemed to fix itself which is wht re-pairing is not out of the question.

I restarted the Watch twice and the second time, I got the message that a new device had been added. Which is odd as it was in Find My but what do I know? After that message, I was able to set the Watch to unlock.

I hope that's an end of it, at least for now.

I was going to suggest restarting more than once. Wanted to find out if you had actually restarted since installation. Unlock with Watch is a temperamental thing at times, I've had similar niggles.

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I'm never wrong, I'm just less right on occasions.

Yes I did say on the first post that it had all been restarted, but just the once at that time.

I sometimes find that Unlock with Watch fails as it says the wifi is too weak so I have to try several times. It unlocks eventually. I know my wifi is not weak with a mesh throughout the house and one mesh unit within arm's reach.

I think it means the wifi connection between Watch and Mac rather than the network. It sometimes happens for me. When it does, I fall back to TouchID.

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I'm never wrong, I'm just less right on occasions.

I press <esc> and try again. It usually works or maybe a couple more. Maybe it is because the iMac has Ethernet as preferred connection and wifi as backup. I prefer wires where possible. I have switches here, there and most places.