Catalina and multiple Users with same Apple ID

The answer is simple. Each user needs their own AppleID. AppleIDs are personal account identifiers and were never intended to be shared. And now with things like iCloud Keychain and other iCloud sync’d features and services, sharing an AppleID will inevitably cause problems.

I had the exact same issue - 2 accounts, one apple ID. Disabling the iCloud Keychain checkbox in the 2nd account solved the problem for me.

1. On 2nd account, with the login warning present, I went to the System Preferences -> Apple ID -> iCloud and disabled the Keychain checkbox.
2. Then, went to the Apple ID main tab and entered the password multiple times, removing the warning.
3. Logged in to the 1st account, warning was present. Entered the password multiple times to remove the warning.

... and that's it. I didn't see the login warning anymore.

On 1st account I have keychain enabled. On 2nd account it's disabled. There are other services, which are disabled on 2nd account: Photos, Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Stocks, Home. This might help, however, the warning disappeared only after removing the checkbox from Keychain.

I can report that I was experiencing this problem too with multiple users and the same Apple ID. I was not using the keychain on either profile.

I have since signed out of iCloud on both profiles, and re-signed in. The problem has gone for now.

Same issue as well: using my machine for multiple “hats,” which I wish could become an officially-supported feature! Setting up separate user accounts is a bit overkill when all I want is separate “workspaces” for the same “user”: me. (With TouchID though it’s been very convenient to tap a finger and switch accounts. Or at least it used to, before this bug!)

I’m getting the same problem: every time I switch users, System Preferences complains that I need to sign in again, and Keychain has been disabled. I haven’t tried turning keychain off entirely. Since I use 1Password for most of my passwords, I guess I can get by without it for a while.

I hope Apple is aware of the bug, but who knows when they’ll fix it 😞

I never said an AppleID cannot be used on multiple devices. You said “multiple users” with one AppleID. And in that case, with things like iCloud Keychain, yes, only one user will have access to the service at any given time, when they login and are using that AppleID with iCloud services.

And it doesn’t matter if it wasn’t an issue before. With each new version of iOS, iPadOS and MacOS, Apple often makes changes to services, adds new features etc all tied to the AppleID, not any local user account. Catalina has a large series of security feature changes to MacOS.

Apple doesn’t routinely monitor the discussions. These are mostly user to user discussions.

If you want to, you can send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem or a suggestion for change. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem/suggested change solved sooner.

Click here to send Feedback

I have the same issue. I use one Apple ID (period). I use multiple users so my screen, data, and applications reflect the "hat" that I'm wearing for the task at hand (ie: DTP, programming, daily usage, film editing, etc.). This worked fine until Catalina. Any clues would be greatly appreciated.

I have exactly the same user case: I use the same Apple ID but separate accounts to separate my "hats" between personal and professional coding.

It has worked fine for years and it's one of the areas I really praised MacOS on previously. This change has been a real shot in the foot for me and far as I understand brings zero benefits from a security stand point given the other replies.