Apple Watch login for Mac keeps "breaking"

pairof9s
pairof9s
Community Member
in Mac

I have an issue where my 1Password 8 login on my Mac via Apple Watch breaks. Sometimes it will work for days, but then suddenly stops operating...the dialog box on my Mac for Apple Watch blinks quickly then disappears; it doesn't ask for confirmation on my Watch.

Likewise, when I attempt to login by opening the main app on Mac...Apple Watch dialog window blinks quickly and disappears. Only manually typing in the master password allows access.

The workaround is to restart my Mac and then it seems to work again for a while. As I have my Mac security access also set to Apple Watch, I don't experience the same issue with this task.

1Password Version: 1Password for Mac 8.10.20 (81020036)
Extension Version: 2.17.1
OS Version: Sonoma 14.1.1
Browser: Safari 17.1

Comments

  • Dave_1P
    Dave_1P

    Hello @pairof9s! 👋

    I'm sorry that Apple Watch unlock for 1Password is sometimes not working on your Mac. Our developers are investigating an issue that matches your symptoms, would you mind sending in a diagnostics report so that we can dig deeper?

    Sending Diagnostics Reports (Mac)

    Attach the diagnostics to an email message addressed to support+forum@1password.com.

    With your email please include:

    Please send the entire file.

    You should receive an automated reply from our BitBot assistant with a Support ID number. Please post that number here. Thanks very much!

    -Dave

  • zder
    zder
    Community Member

    I am also only occasionally able to unlock 1Password with my Apple Watch. This has been an ongoing issue through 2 major MacOS releases. Last time I checked in, 1Password said it was due to a MacOS issue. If Apple can't fix this issue, and 1Password can't fix this issue, maybe unlock with Apple Watch should be removed as a feature of 1Password.

  • AppleWatchMe
    AppleWatchMe
    Community Member

    I was also experiencing Apple watch unlock problems and I seemed to have resolved the issue. There were a few contributing factors that I think contributed to my experience.

    • I have two Macs that both have 1Password installed
    • One of the Macs was not running the latest MacOS
    • The up-to-date Mac had not been rebooted with the watch unlock option disabled since I got my new Apple watch.

    This is the procedure I would recommend to resolve the issue:

    • Disable the watch unlock option on 1Password on all your Macs.
    • Disable the watch unlock on the Mac System Settings (on all your Macs)
    • Update the OS on your Macs, which should include a reboot. If your Macs are already on the latest MacOS, then just reboot them. No matter what, make sure you reboot your Mac with all the watch unlock settings disabled.
    • Update the OS on your watch if needed
    • Enable the watch unlock on the Mac System Settings
    • Enable the watch unlock on the 1Password app.

    Hopefully, your watch will be able to unlock 1Password on the Mac now.

    Note: If you use the menu option to lock 1Password from the app, then it will make you type in the password to unlock it. The watch unlock appears to only work after 1Password has already been unlocked with the password and has locked itself because of an idle timeout. I think it will also force you to type in the password if 1Password has been locked for a longer period of time. I think this is a very reasonable behavior designed to protect the vault.

  • Dave_1P
    Dave_1P

    @AppleWatchMe

    Thank you for sharing the steps that resolved the issue for you. If the issue does come back then please let us know.

    Note: If you use the menu option to lock 1Password from the app, then it will make you type in the password to unlock it. The watch unlock appears to only work after 1Password has already been unlocked with the password and has locked itself because of an idle timeout. I think it will also force you to type in the password if 1Password has been locked for a longer period of time.

    Is it possible that you have a short duration set for when 1Password will require your account password? Check the following:

    1. Open and unlock 1Password for Mac.
    2. Click on 1Password next to the  in the menu bar.
    3. Click on Settings.
    4. Is "Require password" set to a longer duration?

    -Dave

  • AppleWatchMe
    AppleWatchMe
    Community Member
    edited December 2023

    @Dave_1P

    I just checked my "require password" setting and it is set to "Every 2 weeks". Now the statement I made above appears to be false. I am able to explicitly lock 1Password with the menu and then unlock it with my watch. I'm pretty sure that was not possible before. I'm fairly certain that I did not change any of the app settings between then and now.

  • Dave_1P
    Dave_1P

    @AppleWatchMe

    I'm glad that unlocking from the menu bar icon is working for you now. 🙂

    -Dave

This discussion has been closed.