<< Solved >> Clean install of Catalina, everything seems to work except "Approve with Apple Watch"

[MannyA]

My latest Hackintosh is on a Gigabyte GA-B75TN thin mini-itx mobo with 16GB of RAM. The OS is installed on a msata SSD. For wifi & bluetooth, I have the Fenvi FV-T919. Installing Catalina was fairly straightforward and only had two issues.

The first issue was that my RAM was reported incorrectly, the system thinking there was 24GB of RAM mounted in 3 memory slots, when there are really only two physical slots on my motherboard. I corrected this in Clover Configurator, in the SMBIOS section, by selecting 2 for the slotcount.

The second and still unresolved issue for me is "Approve with Apple Watch". Handoff, Continuity, Unlock with Apple Watch all work flawlessly. However, when I'm prompted by my Apple Watch to approve something, nothing happens when I double tap the Digital Crown...I still have to enter a password on my Hackintosh.

Has anyone else been able to get "Approve with Apple Watch" working?

 

[inequals]

It's working fine for me, but I have the actual Apple AirPort card... not sure that's much help, but I thought I'd answer you anyway. It's definitely my favourite new feature (now just every other app needs to implement the new authentication style, and then I can change my password to a strong one cos I won't have to enter it every five minutes, Hackintosh users know this pain amirite)

 

[MannyA]

Yeah, I can see how it could easily be my favorite feature as well, if only I could get it to work.

 

[inequals]

What model of Apple Watch? Have you tried disabling everything, including iCloud, and re-enabling? Resetting the Apple Watch? Erasing and restoring the Apple Watch? Do you use the Watch with Apple Pay - another example where a double tap of the side button confirms the action - does it work when doing that?

 

[MannyA]

I've got the Series 4 with cellular. I would try what you suggested, but the last time I erased and restore my iAnythings, it never seems to restore to the same exact state and my settings get screwed up. I like my settings just the way they are and the Approve with Apple Watch feature, while seemingly convenient, just isn't worth screwing up other things I like.

Thanks anyway.

 

[MannyA]

Doh!!!

I feel so silly now. I just discovered that the Approve with Apple Watch DOES work on my hackintosh. I was just doubling clicking on the Digital Crown, which is the wrong button. You're supposed to double click on the button below it. Its a button I rarely ever use, therefore I simply forgot it exists.

I'm thrilled now!

 

[eXTriC]

I have an issue with the Fenvi FV-T919 and Catalina where I can approve with the Apple Watch but it can not unlock. Seems many people have the same issue and you are one of the first that confirmed unlock to work with the Fenvi FV-T919. Can you post a little details about your setup like plist and SMIbios. Thanks

 

[shamster]

I also have FV-T919 card. Handoff, continuity, unlock with apple watch, approve with apple watch, imessages all work properly. I am using SMBIOS 18,3 on 10.15.2.

Nothing unusual in my config.plist apart from following the imessages guide on getting icloud stuff working. Let me know if you need any more info.

 

[eXTriC]

Thanks for the input. I tried SMIBIOS 19,1 and 18,3 but it makes no difference. Will keep looking

 

[Ting]

Where are you bought this card? I bought it from amazon.com from that link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VCCZS54/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

You may try taking out the kexts for AirportBrcmFixup, the BrcmPatchRAM2 and BrcmFirmwareRepo kexts which should not be used in your case, they may cause issues with natively supported cards like yours.
If it still not work, you could reset your hack's keychain and it should start working. I had the same issue and I resolved it like this.