Find My Mac doesn't work on MacBook Pro after MacOS26 upgrade

I found a solution!

iMac M3 Tahoe 26.2 connected via Ethernet.

Find My Mac doesn’t work, and location services in Safari and Apple Maps don’t work either.

I tried the procedure suggested by GlenMohr in Recovery Mode but no luck.

Then I had an intuition: I turned on WiFi and, magically, location started working again!

Now my Mac is connected to my network in both ways, but priority is given to the cable because in my case it is faster.

Apparently, Wi-Fi provides location information that the cable does not.

I bet many people who have this issue are connected via Ethernet...

Wierdostomps wrote:

This has worked for me too. Thanks @malessere! I wasn't able to use Messages on my laptop, or Find My, or Apple Maps. Unplugged ethernet and they all work like a charm.

@Apple - this is something which has only been introduced with the 26.2 upgrade. I've used all of these services for years on the same ethernet connection. Please fix.

Location services has never worked over ethernet. It is purely a Wi-Fi triangulation service. You don’t have to be connected to a Wi-Fi network, but you must have Wi-Fi turned on.

Read the first paragraph of this Control access to the location of your Mac - Apple Support

Pick any previous macOS version from the pop-up menu at the top. They all say you must use Wi-Fi.

malessere wrote:

Then I had an intuition: I turned on WiFi and, magically, location started working again!

…

Apparently, Wi-Fi provides location information that the cable does not.

Wi-Fi doesn't magically provide location information – but I believe that Apple plays a clever "crowdsourcing" game. iPhones and cellular iPads report the estimated location of Wi-Fi access points that they see. If those access points are in high-traffic areas, many, many reports from GPS-equipped devices may be received, and automatically combined.

Then when, say, a Mac, sees IDs and signal strengths for the Wi-Fi access points around it, it can compare this with what's in the database to get a location based on the automatic data collection done by the other devices.

With Ethernet, you don't have all of the routers within a few hundred feet talking to your device and telling it who they are (whether you decide to plug in your device or not). So there's not the opportunity to carry out the same clever approach to location estimation.

I had this exact problem. Coincided with not being able to find my physical MacBook. So I thought someone had nicked my Mac and erased the device.

The solution from Apple support was to run the disk utility, using first aid, which you access by holding the power on switch down for a slightly longer until options appear. Once the first aid utility ran through the hard drives, the MacBook popped back into my Find My Mac selection

update on this - I spoke to Apple support who were excellent. I had run first aid in applications > disk utilities > first aid but this doesn't work. You have to run first aid on all the disks in safe mode. Click and hold the power button to get to macOS Recovery etc. It worked that way.

malessere wrote:

iMac M3 Tahoe 26.2 connected via Ethernet.

Find My Mac doesn’t work, and location services in Safari and Apple Maps don’t work either.

I turned on WiFi and, magically, location started working again!

Good computing malessere! Appreciate your post here.

Both Bluetooth & WiFi server many functions beyond your ethernet...

ref: Use Continuity to work across Apple devices - Apple Support

This is not a fix. This issue I first reported in 26.0 and it's to do with M3's and M4's Max Pros where it doesn't recognise the Silicon valley chipset. This was reported in the previous OS as well and they released a fix especially for that as I reported it. Seems the same issue again for 26 and all the suggestive fixes do not work. I again reported this issue in Nov 25 and went through all the tests and validations with apple about this specific issue. Now I was under the impression that 26.3 would solve this once and for all but unfortunately it's not been fixed in this release considering it's 14 days late from the normal releases. I would suggest you wait for apple to fix this as it's a code issue in 26 and doing all the first aid, signing in and out of accounts etc will not work, even safe mode will not work. I've spent days with apple going through 2 different scenarios with Find My and unfortunately they haven't fixed it as yet, guess we wait until 26.4 to see if it's been fixed.

This has worked for me too. Thanks @malessere! I wasn't able to use Messages on my laptop, or Find My, or Apple Maps. Unplugged ethernet and they all work like a charm.

@Apple - this is something which has only been introduced with the 26.2 upgrade. I've used all of these services for years on the same ethernet connection. Please fix.

Today, 26.5 was released and fixed all those issues. please update to latest version for the fix

This is Pro chipset, not the cheaper models this issue affects. thank you, but all these were tried and apple are aware of the issue and have confirmed it's PRO chipsets on M3 upwards affected

shdudu wrote:

Hi, after upgrading my MBP 14" M3 to MacOS26, the computers doesn't show up in find my application as a device or at all.

Under System settings > Apple Account > iCloud > See All > Find my Mac is On

...

The MBP doesn't show up in Find my application in the iPhone app, in the mac app nor in the iCloud online web app

I'll appreciate any advice here, i'm always traveling with my computer so its crucial it will be findable

David

Yes it has been reported here in the Tahoe upgrade—FindMy not recognized

To be proactive you can file a bug report / submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

Outside of waiting for a point-update to resolve the issue—

You can call Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)

or on line https://getsupport.apple.com/

or call AppleCare Support at 1-800-APLCARE (800-275-2273)

Outside the USA—Contact Apple for support and service by phone

See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world.

Contact Apple Support - Apple Support

danwhite77 wrote:

I'm having the exact same experience as you, none of the suggested fixes work and my M3 MacBook Pro doesn't show up in Find My. Really hope Apple prioritizes this bug resolution. It's very frustrating.

At the least file a bug report—

To be proactive you can file a bug report / submit your Apple Feedback here: 

Feedback - macOS - Apple

in addition you can call Customer Support  (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753) and if no resolve escalate this up the chain of command beyond the Tier One telephone support in an effort to get Apple engineers involved.

Yes, but the point is that prior to 26 merely having WiFi turned on was sufficient. At present it isn't! If your Mac is plugged in to ethernet, services which were working perfectly prior to the upgrade will suddenly stop working. The only 'fix' is to unplug ethernet which, in my case, is not satisfactory because I work in an office where the Wifi is very slow and unreliable.

malessere wrote:

However, my old 2011 Intel iMac revealed its location through the Ethernet connection, probably just by using the IP address, which is what Google Chrome did and still does on the new iMac with Wi‑Fi turned off.

I believe that Apple has recently made a very specific design choice to use a form of triangulation with nearby Wi‑Fi networks to achieve greater accuracy. However, as you can imagine, it has a major limitation: if you are in an isolated place where you only have a wired network and no nearby Wi‑Fi, the system fails miserably.

Frankly, I do not agree with this choice at all…

To be proactive you can submit your apple feedback here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos

malessere wrote:

I believe that Apple has recently made a very specific design choice to use a form of triangulation with nearby Wi‑Fi networks to achieve greater accuracy. However, as you can imagine, it has a major limitation: if you are in an isolated place where you only have a wired network and no nearby Wi‑Fi, the system fails miserably.

Macs do not have, and have never had, GPS or similar receivers, so they have no way to estimate their location except theoretically for

• Communication with devices on the same LAN (e.g., iPhones, cellular iPads) that do.
• Workarounds - whether that involves triangulation with Wi-Fi, guessing based on a routable IP address (like a home router's external IP address), or both.

I'm a little bit surprised that Apple has never offered Mac notebooks that have cellular data, and GPS, support – like that on cellular iPads – built in. There are a few Windows notebooks that have cellular Internet connectivity (I'm not sure about GPS receivers), at least as an option.

Frankly, I do not agree with this choice at all…

The use of Wi-Fi triangulation (and/or possibly seeking help from your iPhone or iPad, if one is nearby) when the Wi-Fi radio is turned on?

Or not falling back to a less precise method when Wi-Fi is disabled?