It doesn’t work when you first turn on or restart your Mac, only when waking it up from sleep. You can find this info in the support article: “The first time you log in after turning on, restarting, or logging out of your Mac, you need to enter your password manually. After that, your Apple Watch logs in for you automatically when you wake it up, no need to type a password.”
Paz said:
It doesn’t work when you first turn on or restart your Mac, only when waking it up from sleep. You can find this info in the support article: “The first time you log in after turning on, restarting, or logging out of your Mac, you need to enter your password manually. After that, your Apple Watch logs in for you automatically when you wake it up, no need to type a password.”
I did restart it, and it still doesn’t work when waking it from sleep. That’s why I asked here. I should have mentioned that I briefly get a message saying ‘unlocking with your Apple Watch,’ but then it quickly asks for my password.
Paz said:
It doesn’t work when you first turn on or restart your Mac, only when waking it up from sleep. You can find this info in the support article: “The first time you log in after turning on, restarting, or logging out of your Mac, you need to enter your password manually. After that, your Apple Watch logs in for you automatically when you wake it up, no need to type a password.”
I did restart it, and it still doesn’t work when waking it from sleep. That’s why I asked here. I should have mentioned that I briefly get a message saying ‘unlocking with your Apple Watch,’ but then it quickly asks for my password.
That sounds like a settings issue. Try turning it off and then back on again.
I have the same issue. I meet all the conditions Apple lists, but it still doesn’t recognize that I’m wearing my watch. I just use Touch ID now and forget about it.
If your Mac is managed by a company, your admin might have disabled the feature even though it looks like it’s turned on in settings.
It also won’t work if Bluetooth is off on either your Mac or Watch.
And as others said, you need to already be logged into your Mac for it to work.
It won’t work if you log out of your account.
Landry said:
It won’t work if you log out of your account.
That’s strange! Check out this other reply I got. Weird, right?
@Marin
I’ve had my Apple Watch for a year and it always worked until recently. Now it just spins for a while and then nothing.
@Marin
When I switched to an M2 MacBook Air a couple of years ago, the option to unlock with my Apple Watch disappeared from my settings. Still don’t know how to get it back on.