Apple Watch Unlock Stopped Working

benmattison
benmattison
Community Member

Hi,

I have a newish M1 MacBook Pro and a Apple Watch. When I first installed 1Password on it, unlocking with Apple Watch worked perfectly but at some point it stopped prompting me and I haven't been able to bring it back with my usual routine, which are turn it off in 1Password, turn off "Use Your Apple Watch to Unlock Your Mac," and then turn them both on. Any other steps to suggest?


1Password Version: 8.8.0
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 12.4
Browser:_ Not Provided

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Comments

  • Hello @benmattison! 👋

    I'm sorry to hear that Apple Watch unlock for 1Password is not working on your Mac. Are you still able to use the Apple Watch to unlock the Mac itself? If you are then can you try these steps in order:

    1. Disable Apple Watch Unlock in 1Password for Mac (1Password > Preferences > Security > Uncheck "Apple Watch"). (Skip this step if you don't see the option.)
    2. Disable Apple Watch Unlock for your Mac (In the MacOS menu bar:  > System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Uncheck "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac")
    3. Turn off your Mac.
    4. Restart your Apple Watch: Restart your Apple Watch - Apple Support
    5. Turn on your Mac.
    6. Enable Apple Watch Unlock for your Mac (In the MacOS menu bar:  > System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Check "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac")
    7. Enable Apple Watch Unlock in 1Password (1Password > Preferences > Security > Check "Apple Watch").

    If that still doesn't resolve the issue then I'd like to ask you to create a diagnostics report from your Mac:

    Sending Diagnostics Reports (Mac)

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

    With your email please include:

    The report will be in zip format. 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!

  • benmattison
    benmattison
    Community Member

    Thanks, @Dave_1P. Yes, the Apple Watch is still unlocking the Mac. Thanks for the detailed instructions! This is my work machine and I am out of the office this week but I'll try it when I'm back.

  • @benmattison

    Sounds good. I'll keep an eye out for your diagnostics report in case the steps don't resolve the issue. 🙂

  • dbarnett
    dbarnett
    Community Member


    @benmattison Sort of the same issue with my MacBook Air 2020; 1 Password doesn't show any "Apple Watch" setting in the security section. I'm running 80900001 beta channel. As you can see from the screen shot, there's no such setting. Am I doing something wrong? Open with Apple Watch was working great just a few days ago. - Dan

  • benmattison
    benmattison
    Community Member

    @dbarnett I am not in the beta channel but I think toggling off and on "Use Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac" under Security & Privacy has fixed that for me in the past.

  • benmattison
    benmattison
    Community Member

    @Dave_1P Back in the office and the suggested sequence fixed it! Thank you!

    @dbarnett If you have't already, I would try going through the same steps above (minus #2 if you aren't seeing the check box in 1Password).

  • Thanks for the update and sending the help forward, @benmattison!

    On behalf of Dave, you're very welcome. We're glad to hear things are working as expected again. 🙂

  • Hi @dbarnett,

    Are you still able to use your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac itself? If so, I'll echo @benmattison's suggestion to try the instructions mentioned earlier in this thread. This includes sending a diagnostic report in the event that the issue persists.

    Looking forward to hearing from you and coming to a resolution! 👍🏻

  • dbarnett
    dbarnett
    Community Member

    @benmattison Sort of the same issue with my MacBook Air 2020; 1 Password doesn't show any "Apple Watch" setting in the security section. I'm running 80900001 beta channel. As you can see from the screen shot, there's no such setting. Am I doing something wrong? Open with Apple Watch was working great just a few days ago. - Dan

  • dbarnett
    dbarnett
    Community Member
    edited August 2022

    UPDATE

    @benmattison @andrew.l_1P

    TL;DR: It worked!

    Thank you for your quick responses and your kindness. I followed the instructions given by @Dave_1P and all is well. What a great community--but then you already knew that!

    Cheerily,

    Dan

  • Glad to hear it, @dbarnett!

    Thank you for your kind words. If you ever have any questions in the future, we're here to help. 😊

  • billdavies
    billdavies
    Community Member

    I have the same issue. It was working and now it is not. I went to 1Password -> Preferences -> Security
    and there is not even a check box mentioning Apple Watch anymore. I am running Ventura on iMac Pro.

  • benmattison
    benmattison
    Community Member

    @billdavies Please see the instructions in the second post in this thread—basically turn everything off, restart both Mac and watch in the correct order, then turn everything on. That worked or me and it has been consistently working since.

  • billdavies
    billdavies
    Community Member

    I started down that path, but so far I cannot even find the Unlock With Apple Watch - Security preference in MacOS Ventura. They completely changed the System Prefs.

  • billdavies
    billdavies
    Community Member

    It is in System Preferences -> Login Password. No longer in the Security & Privacy one.

  • benmattison
    benmattison
    Community Member

    Ah ha!

  • @billdavies

    Let us know if the steps don't resolve the issue and we can help further. 🙂

    -Dave

  • JamesHenderson
    JamesHenderson
    Community Member

    Hi,

    I have been having this problem every day for several days now. Each time, my Apple Watch continues to unlock my Mac just fine and, each time, going to settings > login password > Apple Watch fixes it (I am on Ventura with the confusing new Settings layout).

    It is very frustrating to have to do this every morning. I assume this is a 1P problem as unlocking my Mac with my watch is always OK.

    Is this problem recognised by the devs as something that needs to be addressed?

  • @JamesHenderson

    1Password will only "know" that an Apple Watch is paired with your Mac if macOS tells it so. There's no way for 1Password to find out that information on its own. If you're finding that macOS is repeatedly not passing that information along to 1Password, try making another user account in macOS to see if that helps. If it doesn't, that would suggest the issue is system-wide, and at that point, I'd have to defer to Apple Support for some more help on that: Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support.

    Let me know how you get on with that testing. :)

  • JamesHenderson
    JamesHenderson
    Community Member

    1Password will only "know" that an Apple Watch is paired with your Mac if macOS tells it so.

    I remember other apps (eg: Banktivity) working fine with my watch after 1P had stopped. However I will specifically check for this next time 1P stops working.

  • @JamesHenderson — Thanks! The fact that it takes a "global" toggle in System Settings to get Unlock With Apple Watch working again, rather than anything in 1Password's Settings suggests that it may be something with macOS, but I'll be keen to see how you get on. :)

  • JamesHenderson
    JamesHenderson
    Community Member

    @GreyM1P My apologies, it just went off again and Banktivity also stopped.

  • @JamesHenderson – Interesting! That would confirm our hypothesis, then. If you get a chance to try it in another user account on your Mac, I'd be really curious to see if that makes a difference or not. That's only if you have the time, of course. :)

  • FutureOak
    FutureOak
    Community Member

    I've got the same issue as @JamesHenderson

    Apple Watch working well with macOS itself, but 1Password keeps forgetting (or not getting told) that the Apple Watch is available for unlock.

    MacBook 15" 2019 (intel)
    macOS 13.0.1
    1Password for Mac 8.9.8 (80908009)

  • JamesHenderson
    JamesHenderson
    Community Member

    I'm not sure what is causing it, but it happens every day.
    It's not 1Password though as my other apps also stop responding. I guess it is another app interfering but it'll take ages to work out which one.
    To fix, I have to switch it off/on in Apple > System Settings > login Password.

  • @FutureOak and @JamesHenderson

    I'm sorry that you're still having trouble with Apple Watch unlock. If other apps are being affected as well, not just 1Password, then it sounds like something that might be worth reporting to Apple Support.

    Out of curiosity, does this happen when you wake the Mac from sleeping? If you leave the Mac running and prevent it from sleeping for 10-30 minutes then does Apple Watch unlock eventually start working again on it's own? There's an issue with Apple Watch unlock after sleep that our developers are tracking where this might occur.

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    -Dave

    ref: dev/core/core#18393

  • JamesHenderson
    JamesHenderson
    Community Member

    @Dave_1P I've had it working OK for the last 24 hours and time will tell. I did a lot of research online and find a page that seems to have worked (as I wrote time will tell).

    @FutureOak if it helps, these were the instructions...

    • settingsprivacy & securitygeneral and uncheck open with apple watch.
    • Open Keychain Access, under View menu make sure 'show hidden items' is enabled.
    • Search for 'auto unlock' select all the auto unlock entries, right click and delete them.
    • Search for 'autounlock' select all the autounlock entries, right click and delete them (some will instantly reappear).
    • Restart your Mac.
    • Open settingsprivacy & securitygeneral and make sure your apple watch is unlocked and your iphone is unlocked and both near the mac. Then check open with apple watch.

    The instructions for setting are different on Ventura (settingsLogin Passwrod)

  • JerSeattle
    JerSeattle
    Community Member

    I followed the steps (removed apple watch unlock, cleared auto unlock entries, shut down mac, rebooted apple watch, restarted mac and then checked the unlock with apple watch preference) and cannot get my apple watch to unlock 1password. 1password needs to figure this out so we don't have to jump through so many hoops to get the autounlock working.

  • benmattison
    benmattison
    Community Member

    Original poster here, making my perennial request to be able to unsubscribe from a specific topic.

  • @JamesHenderson,

    Appreciate you sharing the steps you took. Hopefully things continue to work as expected, let us know if we can help with anything!

    @JerSeattle,

    Thanks for trying those troubleshooting steps, I'm sorry to hear the issue persists. To confirm, are you able to use your Apple Watch to unlock your device itself? Have you been able to use it to unlock 1Password in the past? If so and everything (OS/watch/1Password) is up to date, I recommend sending in a diagnostic report so we can take a look:

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

    With your email please include:

    You should receive an automated reply from our BitBot assistant with a Support ID number. Please post that number here so we can link the two conversations. Looking forward to hearing from you!

    @benmattison,

    Thanks for your patience while folks get help here, usually the sign of a well chosen thread title! Here's a post from a colleague about some of the notification settings in case it helps: https://1password.community/discussion/comment/323340/#Comment_323340 🙂

This discussion has been closed.