iOS 15.1 beta 2 fixes 'Unlock with Apple' Watch bug on iPhone 13

Apple has started rolling out second beta of iOS 15.1 to developers with an update to unlock the iPhone 13 using the Apple Watch when wearing a mask.

To get this feature working again, users will need both iOS 15.1 and watchOS 8.1 installed -- which is also available to developers as a beta release, reports 9to5Mac.

Earlier, multiple users found that they cannot unlock their iPhone 13 with the Apple Watch and instead received an error.

User Monzilla88 on Reddit first reported the issue to the subreddit r/AppleWatch.


They stated that both their iPhone 13 Pro and Apple Watch SE are up to date with the newest iOS and watchOS updates.

"Whenever I try to enable unlock with Apple Watch on my phone I get an error saying "Unable to communicate with Apple Watch," they posted.

Monzilla88 claimed that they had tried unpairing and repairing, hard resetting both devices, turning on and off passcodes, but not no avail, the report said.


More than 20 other users self-reported the same problem, with others noting that the feature works fine on iOS 15 on older models of iPhone, including the iPhone 11 Pro Max and the iPhone X.

After removing SharePlay in iOS 15 beta 2, Apple has re-enabled the feature in the iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1, and tvOS 15.1 betas. Apple decided to pull SharePlay from the iOS 15 launch because it was not properly functioning and was still riddled with issues.

It adds features to the Health app like support for storing health-related data for Covid-19 immunisations and test results. With the latest iOS 15.1 Beta, one can now add vaccination cards to the Apple Wallet application - IANS