User switching doesn't work properly in macOS Sonoma

I am having the same issue on a MacBook Air M2. It's running the latest update. The problem starts after a certain amount of time has passed when 2 users are logged in. You cannot log into any other user, you click on the user and it just goes back to the last user logged in. Very frustrating. If you are not an admin, then you can't log in without a force restart by holding the power botton. Needs to be addressed by Apple.

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

AFAICR, this problem used to happen when using touch id to switch, and when the two accounts used the same finger - like your index finger. The system would recognize the fingerprint as belonging to the main account and log you in to that account.

Just a data point. I use the same finger for TouchID for two different user accounts and have no problems with it. I had to enroll the finger a second time for the second account. I'm not sure that the computer "knows" that the fingerprints are the same.

Now, both user accounts are tied to the same Apple ID. I don't know if that makes a difference.

psco13 wrote:

I'm having the same issue right now. I can't switch accounts without logging out of the main account.

How do we report this issue to apple? Here isn't the right place i guess.

It is unclear if this is the same problem.

Are you able to select another account, but upon using the fingerprint, land back in the same account?

Or are you not seeing the option to do fast user switching? If the latter, then you need to turn it on in System Settings->Control Center.

"Can't believe apple haven't fixed this already... its a very serious issue."

Perhaps there aren’t enough users reporting to get Apple’s attention. We all here are just users, not Apple Support techs. Have you called Apple Support to report this and ask for assistance? Perhaps it’s not a bug but some configuration error. As I posted in the beginning of this thread I have six user accounts plus guest access and have never been able to reproduce this on my system.

We have a pretty vanilla set-up here and I'm a software developer, pretty sure this is a bug with Sonoma.

That is what happens for me also. I can neither switch from the login screen nor the circled person screen. It just ignores me. I have two users logged in (work and personal). It worked before the update.

This is absolutely a bug. It’s consistent now that it’s a problem, and it occurred without any additional software being installed or settings changed. I expect not many people have reported it because most users probably only use a single user account.

M2 MacBook Pro, Sonoma 14.2.1

Still an issue I see. Currently using a MacBook Air that doesn't even allow me to see the created Admin account after restart. The user's account is the only account being shown. Dragging or clicking the icon does nothing. Definitely a bug.

Willstar77 wrote:

This is absolutely a bug. It’s consistent now that it’s a problem, and it occurred without any additional software being installed or settings changed. I expect not many people have reported it because most users probably only use a single user account.

M2 MacBook Pro, Sonoma 14.2.1

M1 Studio Max, Sonoma 14.4.1 with six user accounts. No issue at all. Not a bug. User education needed.

Thanks for your incredibly insightful and helpful comment. If you’ve got nothing useful to add to this discussion, or suggestions on how to work around the issue please refrain from posting.

just because it works on your particular hardware/firmware/software configuration doesn’t mean there isn’t a bug with mine.

I assure you “no user education” is required. Apologies for feeding the troll.

Also to add to the useful information. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the Lock Screen , or trying to switch user from inside a session already logged on. The result is the same, click on the other person’s face and nothing happens. Same in control panel.

Even if a reboot temporarily “resolves” the issue, it’s still an issue.

I am experiencing the same on an M2 MacBook Air running Sonoma 14.5

I have just updated to 14.5 yesterday.

I have two accounts, one is logged in and the other one is just like the OP described: If I lock the screen and click on the second account within fractions of a second it switches back to the logged in account to ask for a password. Similar behavior on the menu bar, if I click on the second account just nothing happens.

I have the same issue. Once I log everybody out or reboot, everything works fine for a while. Then randomly I get to the same issue again where multiple users are logged in, but I can’t switch to the other account. I see the multiple icons on the lock screen, and when I click on another user account, it automatically goes back to the last logged in account.

Sonoma 14.5

Any updates on this ? I've updated my MacBook pro 16" to the last Sonoma release yesterday and immediately I've seen some bug on login screen. First login the password field was opened in foreground but not Highlited. Immediately I've think of a bug in the new login screen. First time I've try to switch users ive found the same bug reported here. Clicking on other user image revert back immediately to the logged in user , and it's no possible to login with a different account without hard rebooting the Mac os.