How to Fix Apple Watch Auto Unlock Issues on Your Mac

Last Updated on April 20, 2023 by Freddy Reyes

If your Apple Watch isn’t unlocking your Mac, the issue could be related to a corrupted pairing between your Mac and Apple Watch. Follow these steps to resolve the problem:

1. Launch “Keychain Access.”
2. Under “View,” enable “Show Invisible Items.”
3. Search for “Auto Unlock.”
4. You should see numerous application passwords for “Auto Unlock: XXXX’s …”
5. Select and delete all records (note that this will reset/disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple devices).
6. While still in “Keychain Access,” search for “AutoUnlock” (without a space).
7. You should find four entries: “tlk,” “tlk-nonsync,” “classA,” and “classC.”
8. Select these four records and delete them (don’t worry if they reappear; the system will automatically repair them).
9. Open “Finder” and navigate to “~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock.”
10. Locate two files: “ltk.plist” and “pairing-records.plist.”
11. Delete both files.
12. Open “System Preferences” and attempt to enable auto-unlock. The first try may fail, so you must allow it to be twice.