User switching doesn't work properly in macOS Sonoma

"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.

Come on, Apple! You always claim to be better than Microsoft, but here you're dropping the ball on something basic. The user switching feature is a core functionality, yet it's completely broken. It's unacceptable that I have to hard reset my Mac by holding down the power button every time I want to switch users!

User account switching should be seamless and work reliably without major workarounds. This is a fundamental usability issue that impacts productivity and convenience for your customers. For a company that prides itself on delivering a premium experience, having to force restart just to change users is incredibly poor design.

I really hope you take this seriously and prioritize fixing the user switching issue in an upcoming software update. It's disappointing that such a straightforward feature is so badly broken on the latest macOS version. Step up your game, Apple - basic functions like this need to just work without headaches. Your users expect better.

Let me be more clear here; I closed the lid when active on main account. After half an hour my wife wanted to open the macbook air. She then dragged the mouse on the user to see her account there. She saw her name and clicked on it. Here is the problem occurred. It didn't bring her account up. When she tried again the other user's password is asked to login. Then she told me her account doesn't come up and she can't login. I checked it and same thing happened. So i logged in to my account and sign out of my account. Only after this step she could choose her name on login screen and entered her password and login her account. Is that clear enough?

I have the same issue on a brand new iMac. The only thing I've installed is a Firefox and Microsoft Remote Desktop.

When the computer is locked, I hover over the user icon and this triggers an animation that shows all the users. When I click my icon, all the icons disappear except for the user who was originally logged in -- as if I hadn't done anything. The only way for me to login is by holding the power button and performing a hard reset.

I am a senior software engineer.