In this guide, we will make you aware of a potential workaround that might help you fix the issue of the Apple Watch being unable to unlock your Mac after the macOS 13.3 update. The cross-device support, sync, and compatibility are some of the biggest perks of the Apple ecosystem. In this regard, if your watch is synced with your Mac, then you could easily unlock the latter using the former. However, that is proving to be easier said than done for many.
After the latest macOS 13.3 update, many users have reported that they are unable to unlock their Mac via their Apple Watch. whenever they are trying to do so, they are instead greeted with the “Your Mac was unable to communicate with your Apple Watch” error. If you are also getting bugged by a similar issue, then this guide will make you aware of a nifty workaround that should help;p you rectify this bug. Follow along.
Apple Watch cannot unlock Mac after macOS 13.3
The below process might prove to be risky, so proceed ahead with caution. Droidwin and its members wouldn’t be held responsible in case of a thermonuclear war, your alarm doesn’t wake you up, or if anything happens to your device and data by performing the below steps.
- Open “Keychain Access” and under “View”, enable “Show Invisible Items”. Then search “Auto Unlock”.
- You should see a list of application passwords for “Auto Unlock: XXXX’s”
- Select all records and delete them (this will reset/disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple Macs).
- Now search for “AutoUnlock” in “Keychain Access”.
- There should be 4 entries for “tlk” “tlk-nonsync” “classA” “classC”
- Select 4 records and delete them (they might re-appear, it’s not an issue, the system repairs this automatically).
- Now open “Finder” and head over to “~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock”
- There should be two files “ltk.plist” and “pairing-records.plist”, delete both of them.
- Open “System Settings” and try enabling auto-unlock. It might fail on the first attempt, so make sure to try again.
That’s it. These were the steps to fix the issue of the Apple Watch being unable to unlock your Mac after the macOS 13.3 update. As far as the official stance on this matter is concerned, the developers are yet to acknowledge this issue, let alone give out any ETA for the rollout of a fix. As and when any of these two things happen, we will update this guide accordingly. In the meantime, the aforementioned workaround is your best bet.
UPDATE 1 [April 1st, 2023]: Continuity is in a mess!
The issue is more widespread than initially anticipated. Not only the Apple Watch but the entire Continuity and Handshake functionalities across all the Apple devices are broken after the latest macOS 13.3 update. Read more on that and their associated fixes below:
