iOS 15.1 Beta 2 Fixes Bug Preventing iPhone 13 Users From Unlocking With Apple Watch When Masked - MacRumors
Skip to Content

iOS 15.1 Beta 2 Fixes Bug Preventing iPhone 13 Users From Unlocking With Apple Watch When Masked

by

Apple today seeded the second beta of iOS 15.1 to developers, and the update includes a fix for an annoying bug that's been affecting iPhone 13 owners who also have an Apple Watch.

FaceID Masked Triad
With beta 2, the Unlock with Apple Watch feature that was broken has been fixed, and an authenticated Apple Watch can once again be used to unlock an iPhone 13 model when wearing a mask.

Prior to the update, attempting to enable the Unlock with Apple Watch feature under Settings > Face ID & Passcode would result in an error that said the iPhone was unable to communicate with the Apple Watch. That error message has now been addressed, and the feature can be successfully toggled on after updating to iOS 15.1 beta 2.

Apple in a support document promised that a fix for the issue would be coming in a future update, and it appears that update may be iOS 15.1. It's not clear if we'll also see an iOS 15.0.1 update that has a fix, as it could still be several weeks before iOS 15.1 sees a public release.

Related Forums: iOS 15, iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Next Month With These 12 New Features

Thursday August 6, 2026 7:03 am PDT by
It is now August, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are just a month away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a...
Read Full Article • 48 comments
AirPods Ultra Mock

'AirPods Ultra' to Launch as Soon as Next Month

Friday August 7, 2026 10:58 am PDT by
Apple has been planning to release AirPods with cameras as early as this year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. If so, they could be unveiled as soon as September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models and the long-rumored foldable iPhone. The earbuds are expected to have a design similar to the AirPods Pro 3, but with tiny cameras. Given the AirPods with cameras will likely be more...
Read Full Article
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Next Month With These 12 New Features

Sunday August 9, 2026 1:45 pm PDT by
It is now August, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are just a month away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a...
Read Full Article

Top Rated Comments

macduke Avatar
macduke
64 months ago
They really need to push this through ASAP through a smaller update. Not sure why they wouldn't be able to pull that git branch as a patch into 15.0 and push it out there.

Love the timing of this, with my first vacation since before the pandemic starting on Saturday, I'm going to be in and out of a couple airports towing luggage and children and was going to be using this a ton. Probably not gonna travel on beta software.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
applefanboysince93
64 months ago

And those of us who doesn’t have an Apple Watch? When is Apple going to solve the unlocking of the latest iPhones for us?
Would have been grand if they could figure out Touch ID on the power button like the iPads…
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
applefanboysince93
64 months ago

Someone downvoted Touch ID?!?! That's ... wow
Right? Even though the Apple Watch unlock is pretty good it doesn’t work maybe 20% of the time for me… having Touch ID as a backup would be great
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
applefanboysince93
64 months ago
Just when I thought I was done with betas for another year… ah F it here goes…
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
deeddawg
64 months ago

But seriously, I also use a password locker with a password combination that's not that insane, still long enough, and pretty much been ingrained to the point of muscle memory. It's not so hard.
So... gotta ask... :)

How do you unlock your phone to access your password locker so you can access your phone password to then unlock your phone which you'd already unlocked so you could access the password locker? :D


Joking aside - the mask/watch/phone unlock is important functionality for so many people that it's rather surprising that bug got past Apple and into the release version. Apple hopefully realizes they need to push the fix out ASAP for this reason and not lollygag around until a x.1 release.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
justperry
64 months ago

Or keep the mask on, and punch in your code / password. Beats getting attention on the plane, and ending up on a no flight list, even though it's a wee bit overboard.
Yup, convenient when a (my) password is 16 alphanumeric characters long.:rolleyes:
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments