How to use Touch ID to do Fast User Switching on New M1 iMac?

Question

Level 1

8 points

How to use Touch ID to do Fast User Switching on New M1 iMac?

Hello!

We just got a new blue M1 iMac and love it! We set it up with separate accounts for both my wife and I and enabled Touch ID for each of us and it seems to work great to lock and unlock the screen throughout the day, but we can't figure out how to use it for Fast User Switching. If I'm logged in and my wife presses the Touch ID button it just locks the screen and takes us back to the password prompt screen for my account and if she presses the Touch ID button again it just jiggles the password box and nothing happens. We have to manually use the mouse to click the 'switch user' button and then she can press the Touch ID button to login into her account again. Same thing happens when she's logged in and I press the Touch ID button - it just locks the screen. We were under the impression we could press the Touch ID button and it would quickly switch to each other's accounts with no other interaction required. Is that not correct? Is there some other setting we missed in the System Preferences or elsewhere? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks and stay well!

iMac 24″, macOS 11.4

Posted on May 26, 2021 10:30 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

btrayn1 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 26, 2021 12:44 PM in response to btrayn1

I think we found the trick! It appears you have to rest your finger on the Touch ID button for a second or so before actually pressing it. We've been able to reliably "fast switch" back and forth between our two accounts a couple of times now by doing that. Sorry if that's well known and if not, hopefully some other folks new to Touch ID and the iMac can benefit from it. Be well, all!

Reply

Answer 2

RUSD tech

Level 4

1,525 points

May 26, 2021 10:39 AM in response to btrayn1

Switch quickly between users on Mac - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 3

btrayn1 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 26, 2021 10:47 AM in response to RUSD tech

Thanks for the quick reply! We read the article and it appears we're doing everything stated...

Switch accounts using Touch ID

When two or more users are logged in at the same time, you can quickly switch between users using Touch ID.

- [deleted]
- If your Mac or Magic Keyboard has Touch ID only (no Touch Bar): Press Touch ID until it clicks.

On our new iMac, we're each pressing the Touch ID until it clicks, but it's not switching users - just locking the screen. The instructions are pretty simple, so I'm not sure what we're missing here, unless there's something wrong with our new computer. We can use the mouse to click the icon in the menu bar to use Fast User Switching, but the Touch ID was one of the main reasons we bought the new iMac.

Reply

How to use Touch ID to do Fast User Switching on New M1 iMac?

Similar questions