iOS 15.1 developer beta 2 fixes the iPhone 13 "Unlock with Apple Watch" bug

The iPhone 13 series was just released a couple of weeks ago, but an annoying bug has appeared for users with Apple Watch. Apparently, the feature "Unlock with Apple Watch" for iPhone 13 users wasn't working, and not long after that finding, Apple confirmed it has identified the issue. Now, 9to5Mac reports iOS 15.1 beta 2 fixes the bug.

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

The second developer beta for iOS 15.1 apparently fixes the bug for iPhone 13 users. The developers that were testing it noticed they can again unlock the iPhone 13 using Apple Watch while wearing a mask. In order for the feature to work again, users need both iOS 15.1 and watchOS 8.1 installed, and watchOS 8.1 is also available in beta for developers.


The second developer beta for iOS 15.1 also re-enables SharePlay, which was removed from the official release of iOS 15. On top of that, the update brings more changes to the Apple Wallet and Health apps so that they can support COVID-19 vaccination cards.

At the moment, it is unkown when iOS 15.1 or watchOS 8.1 will be released publicly, so affected users might need to wait a bit longer for a public release.

There are several annoying bugs on the iPhone 13 series

Recently, we reported on several bugs that were plaguing the newly-released iPhone 13 models, and one of them was the aforementioned communication with Apple Watch issue. The feature "Unlock with Apple Watch" was first introduced with iOS 14.5 so users wearing face masks will be able to unlock their phones with the watch, instead of with Face ID.

The users which first noticed the problem with the new iPhone 13 series reported that a notification stating "Unable to Communicate with Apple Watch" was appearing and saying to make sure the Apple Watch is unloccked and the users' wrist. The notification also gives an option to "Cancel" or to "Try Again".

Apple has stated that until the update to fix the bug is available, users can turn off Unlock with Apple Watch from Settings > Face ID & Passcode. This issue is affecting only the latest iPhone 13 series, and not other older iPhone models.

Then, there are also a couple of other minor issues affecting the iPhone 13 and the newest iPad models. One of these is that widgets used on the iPhone 13 series or the iPad 9 and iPad mini 6 might revert back to default setting after these devices are restored from a backup.

This issue, however, affects only a small number of the aforementioned devices, so not all users are affected by this. For now, there is no way to automatically fix the issue if it has occured on your iPhone or iPad. Apple gives the following workaround: you need to touch and hold a widget to open the quick actions menu. Then, you tap on "Edit" and make your changes, then tap outside of the widget to exit, which is the standard procedure to edit widgets.

And the second issue is present for restored iPhone or iPads from a backup (again only the most recent iPhones and iPads are affected by this). The bug prevents you to access the Apple Music catalog, Apple Music settings, or use Sync Library on your new device. Apple has released a fix now, so to resolve this issue, you need to update your new iPhone or iPad from Settings > General > Software Updates.