Auto Unlock Mac using your Apple Watch is a nice feature to avoid entering the password. This feature is available with all Apple Watch but limited to Macs manufactured in 2013 and later. For any reason, if you can’t unlock Mac with Apple Watch, there’s nothing to disappoint. There are certain things to keep in mind to get it to work correctly.
You will see the default app at the top of the list. Select the alternative app you want to use. The file will now open in that app. How To Change The Mac Default App Settings. If you think you’re going to use alternative apps for a long time, it’s better to just set them up as default apps instead of doing the method above every single time. By default macOS allows you to open apps from the official App Store only. If you have this still set as your default you will be seeing the warning when you try to open an app for the first time. With your Mac turned off, press and hold the Command and R keys on your keyboard, then press the power button. Hold in Command+R until you see a progress bar show up below the Apple logo.
Apart from the pre-requisites, we have also penned down some fixes that may resolve the issue. Before you jump to the fixes, I’ll insist you go through some basic troubleshooting and then move to the advanced part of the post.
Unable to Unlock Mac with Apple Watch? Try below-given fixes
Important Notes:
Make sure your Mac is of 2013 or later model
Check whether your Apple Watch and Mac have the same iCloud account
You’ll need two-factor authentication enabled and setup on both, Mac and Apple Watch
You’ll need watchOS 3 or later and macOS Sierra or later to use Auto Unlock
Your Mac and Apple Watch should have Passcode enabled and set up
Now that you have an idea of pre-required things let’s start with fixes if troubleshooting mentioned above hasn’t helped you.
#1. Disable Automatic Login on Mac
If you have enabled Automatic Login on Mac, you’ll need to disable it. To do so, open System Preferences by clicking the Apple logo, followed by clicking Users & Groups.
Click the lock icon at the bottom-left to make changes, enter the administrator password.
Then click on Login Options.
Best terminal apps mac. On the right side of the window, select Off from the dropdown menu beside Automatic Login.
Now check if you can unlock Mac using Apple Watch. If it doesn’t, keep reading.
#2. Boot Up Password required for Apple Watch and Mac
When you restart your Mac or Apple Watch, you need to enter the password before you can use the auto-unlock feature. This is identical to Touch ID on iPhone, which requires you to enter Passcode after you restart your iPhone. It is a security feature and not a bug. If you have restarted your Apple Watch, or Mac, or both, you need to enter the password/Passcode for the first time.
#3. Is your Apple Watch Paired Correctly?
To operate different devices flawlessly in the Apple ecosystem, you need to keep basic things in mind. Same iCloud account and proper pairing. Check whether you have paired your Apple Watch correctly with your iPhone.
Without proper pairing, Auto-Unlock feature won’t work. Still, haven’t fixed the unlocking issue? Keep reading.
#4. Check Radios
Auto-Unlock feature requires Wifi and Bluetooth turned on. Check whether you have accidentally turned off the same on Apple Watch and your Mac.
Try unlocking your Mac with Apple Watch. Did it work? Nope, let’s try something else.
#5. Reset Radios on Mac and Apple Watch
Sometimes big problems have one of the tiniest solutions. Try resetting Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on Apple Watch and Mac.
On Apple Watch:
Swipe up on the watch face to open the control center on Apple Watch
Tap on Airplane Mode to switch off all radios
After a minute, tap Airplane Mode again to restart radios.
On your Mac:
Click Wifi icon → Turn Wi-Fi off
Click Bluetooth → Turn Bluetooth off
After a minute, Turn both of them back ON and check if you can unlock your Mac using Apple Watch. If not, keep reading.
#6. Disable/Enable Allow Apple Watch to Unlock on your Mac
On your Mac, open System Preferences → Security & Privacy. By default, you’ll be on the General tab. If you are not, click on General tab and then uncheck the box beside Allow Apple Watch to unlock your Mac. Check again in few seconds to turn it back on.
#7. Disable Internet Sharing on Mac
Auto Unlock does not work with Internet Sharing enabled on your Mac. If it is enabled, make sure you disable it by going to System Preferences → Sharing and then, unchecking the box beside Internet Sharing in the left sidebar of the window.
#8. Update OS Your Mac and Apple Watch
Radios on Mac and Apple Watch usually receive updates when Apple find any bug in their connectivity. Check whether watchOS or macOS update is available. If it is, make sure you update it right away and then see if things are working usually.
Update watchOS
Step #1. Open Watch app on your iPhone and then select My Watch tab at the bottom.
Step #2. Now, tap on General → Software Update.
Check out if there is an update waiting for you. Install the update if it’s there.
Update OS on your Mac
Step #1. Open Mac App Store and select Updates tab in the top left corner.
Step #2. If you find macOS software update, click to install it.
After the software update, you will, most likely, be able to overcome the issue.
#9. Restart devices
Restarting things is generally not required with Apple devices, yet it is always better to give a try when nothing seems to be helping. Restart your Apple Watch and Mac and then unlock them the first time with Passcode and password respectively. Now check again if you can open your Mac using Apple Watch. If it doesn’t, keep reading.
#10. Unpair and Re-pair your Apple Watch
I know this is really a tedious thing to do, but this mostly solves the most critical Apple Watch issue. On your iPhone launch the Watch app → My Watch and then tap the [Name]’s Apple Watch.
Next, tap on the Info button on the right and then, touch on Unpair Apple Watch. After it is unpaired, pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone again and check if Auto Unlock is working now. If everything fails to work, the last option is to get in touch with the Apple Support.
That’s all for now!
Wrapping up…
I hope some of the above fixes have helped you resolve your issue of unlocking Mac with Apple Watch. Apart from these fixes, if you have got any other way to get it done, don’t forget to share it.
You may also like to refer:
Do share your feedback with us in the comment section?
Jignesh Padhiyar is the co-founder of iGeeksBlog.com who has a keen eye for news, rumors and all the unusual stuff that happens around Apple products. During his tight schedule, Jignesh finds some moments of respite to share side-splitting contents on social media.
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The Mac default apps that come with your new Mac are great for everyday functionality. They fulfill their core purpose elegantly and simply. But when it comes to preferences to adjust and knobs to twist, Mac default apps have never been the best choice. That void is filled by third-party app makers, who include more customizable options in their own apps.
There are also apps out there that awful major upgrades from Mac default app functionality. Take Mail.app, for example: a truly broken email application that doesn’t seem to get any better. There are far better options out there on the Mac App Store, which you should definitely explore.
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Once you’ve found a better default application, what do you do with the old app? It will keep popping up on contextual links and actions until you tell it to stop. Change your Mac default apps for email and everything else by following the instructions below.
Change Your Mac Default Apps: Mail
1. Open Mail.app from your Applications folder.
2. In the menu bar, choose Mail > Preferences or press Command + , as a shortcut.
3. Pick your preferred email application from the drop-down menu next to “Default email reader” at the top of the window.
If you see some non-email applications in there, just ignore them. Applications can sometimes be overly broad with their file type associates, leading to things like iTerm showing as email apps. Don’t select those: they just won’t work.
Change Your Mac Default Apps: Calendar
1. Open Calendar.app from the Applications menu.
2. In the menu bar, choose Calendar > Preferences or press Command + , as a shortcut.
3. Select your preferred calendar application from the “Default calendar app” drop-down at the top of the window.
Change Your Mac Default Apps: Web Browser
Change your Mac’s default web browser in the General pane of System Preferences.
In the General pane, click the drop-down menu next to “Default web browser” and choose your desired default browser. Howe to see dates installed apps on mac.
Again, some non-browser applications might pop up. Make sure not to select something like Evernote.
Setting Chrome as your Default Browser
Chrome can also set itself as the default web browser from within the browser.
1. In the menu bar, click Google Chrome > Preferences.
2. Under the “Default browser” section, click “Make Default” on the right.
3. Click “Use ‘Chrome’” in the macOS dialog box to confirm.
Setting Firefox as your Default Browser
Firefox can also adjust your Mac’s default web browser from within the app.
1. Click Firefox > Preferences in the menu bar.
2. In the Startup section of the General preference tab, click the “Make Default…” button.
3. Click the “Use ‘Firefox’” button in the macOS dialog box to confirm your change.
Change Your Mac Default Apps: Image Viewer
The default image viewer on your Mac is Preview. It’s a totally acceptable application for viewing files, but it has limited editing capability. If you want to adjust your image files, you might set a photo editor as your default image viewer application instead of Preview. This is the same process for changing default apps for any other file type, as seen below.
1. Default application associations are sorted on a file extension basis. Each file extension has its own default application. Find an image file with a common image extension to change the default image viewer application for all files of that type. The most common image extensions are .jpg, .gif, and .png.
2. Right-click on the image and select “Get Info.”
3. Find the Open With section of the Get Info window, towards the middle.
4. Click the Open With drop-down menu. Select the app you want to use as your image viewer.
If you don’t see the app you want, click “Other…” at the bottom of the menu.
6. At this point, the change only applies to this individual file. To propagate the change to all images with that same extension, click the “Change All …” button below the Open With drop-down.
This change will apply to all JPG files on this Mac. Preferences for other image types, like PNG and GIF, will need to be set separately. While this might be time-consuming, it does allow a greater degree of flexibility. You might not want to open an animated GIF, for example, with the same program you use to edit photos.
Change Your Mac Default App for All Other File Types
Other files don’t always open with the application you prefer. Take HTML files, which open in your Mac’s default web browser. That’s not so useful for web developers, so you can change the default application to your preferred text editor instead.
1. Find the file you want to change and right-click it to choose the “Get Info” option.
2. Go to the Open With section in the Get Info window and choose the application you want to open this file type.
3. Click “Change All …” to apply the change to all files that share that extension.
Conclusion
If you’re not seeing the apps you expect in the Open With dialog, or apps are appearing multiple times, you might need to manually edit the file type associations by customizing the macOS context menu.
Apart from the changes on the list, there’s not much you can change using the system dialogs. But there are other ways to adjust Mac default apps. Some application, like Path Finder, provide a way to suppress macOS’s built-in Finder and replace it with its own functionality. That’s a rare option, but it does exist. If you find a system replacement app, you should look for it. You might be able to wiggle around your Mac default apps for app types not listed here.
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