So, you bought a brand new iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, or 13 Pro Max. Congratulations! Are you enjoying the new and improved cameras? The 120 Hz pro displays? Or are you pissed because your $1,000 iPhone won’t unlock when you’re wearing a mask—even though your old iPhone did just fine? Let’s help you fix this “Unlock with Apple Watch” bug.
Apple released this feature with iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4 during the height of the pandemic, as a remedy for needing to unlock our Face ID iPhones while wearing a mask. With the feature set up, your iPhone won’t reject you for wearing a mask; instead, it takes that partial face scan and checks in with your Apple Watch. If your watch is unlocked and on your wrist, the iPhone unlocks as well.
It’s a great feature for these masked-up times we find ourselves in. However, it seems Apple was thinking “the pandemic will be over by then” when testing the iPhone 13, as the “Unlock with Apple Watch” feature just doesn’t work.
Luckily, there is a fix for this issue; Apple has a patch for this bug baked into iOS 15.0.1. The company officially released this version to customers on Friday, Oct. 1, two weeks after iOS 15 hit the scene.
To update to iOS 15.0.1 and fix this annoying bug, just head to Settings > General > Software Update on your iPhone, then follow the instructions to download and install the update on your device. When it eventually reboots, “Unlock with Apple Watch” should be working again. Just remember that the first time you unlock your iPhone after a restart, you’ll need to punch in your passcode.
Before Apple released iOS 15.0.1 to the public, users discovered that the betas for iOS 15.1 and watchOS 8.1 seemed to patch the “Unlock with Apple Watch” bug. If you’re interested, you could download the betas for both iPhone and Apple Watch.
Just remember that doing so is risky; betas are unstable, in-the-works software. If you install beta software on your devices, you may run into bugs that can hinder your use of the device. Removing the beta from iOS can result in total data loss, while watchOS doesn’t even allow you to remove the beta at all.
Developers for iOS usually receive beta updates before public testers. If you’re not a registered developer, there’s nothing stopping you from becoming one, short of the $100 annual fee. If that works for you, you can follow our guide on downloading the iOS developer beta to your iPhone here.
We also have a guide for downloading the watchOS developer beta, however, it is geared for public testers. The only difference is really where you download the beta from; you’ll just download your profile from Apple’s developer download page instead of the public beta website.
If you’re not signed up for the public betas already, you can follow our iPhone guide here, and our Apple Watch guide here. The software is exactly the same as the developer betas, but they usually come out one day (sometimes multiple days) later.
This article was updated on Friday, Oct. 1 to provide additional information.
[9to5Mac]
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