“Unlocking with Apple Watch”: This is the message I see on my iMac screen whenever I approach the computer, Watch on wrist. After a month of intermittent success but many failed unlocks I now realise this is akin to “the cheque is in the post”.
It just isn’t reliable. Sometimes I’m informed that the “wi-fi signal is poor” (which a total lie as far as I can determine) but most times after a brief “unlocking” phase up comes the standard password entry box.
Am I alone in this? Perhaps something to do with the settings on my computer or on my Apple Watch? If not, it is probably something Apple will sort out in the usual fashion, by a quiet upgrade in a security upgrade to Sierra, never admitting to there having been a problem in the first place.
In the meantime, I’m being lied to every day. But I do love my new Apple Watch 2; more on this later.
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I’ve been using this feature since I got my Apple Watch series 2 and it has never failed to unlock my mac in the month that I’ve had it, no matter what wifi I’m using it works, and that includes a school wifi system that works by downloading a specific profile for your mac and iPhone in order to use it. Might be your hardware? I am using an iPhone 6s and 2014 MacBook Pro 15" with maxed specs. Any ideas why it might not be working for some?
Thanks, Cullen, a useful indication that it could be a local problem. I’m using a 2014 iMac, iPhone 7 Plus and Watch 2. All OS up to date. I will do some more investigation to see if I can find the problem.
My original Apple Watch does unlock my screen successfully 99% of the time (I have the most recent 13" MacBook Pro) but there is sometimes a fairly annoying delay, and it’s quick to override by starting to type my password. Sounds like it’s not the speed of the hardware in my watch and instead, as you say, some niggle that Apple will quietly fix!
You are probably right. I changed everything over one or two days–Sierra, iOS10 and new Watch 2 so I have no way to debug.