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

malessere wrote:

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

Obviously, I was referring to this.

Why not maintain an approximate location (it’s not essential to have a precise one when talking about a device you don’t carry in your pocket) and notify you that Wi-Fi is needed to get it accurate to the meter, like iOS does?

It would still be better than not having it at all, don’t you think? 😉

And the most annoying thing is that the need for wifi on the Mac is not documented at all 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’m not sure how you would find a stolen MacBook if they connected to a wired network, even if it could determine the ISP registered location there would be no information to identify how close it was to that point it could be hundreds of miles away even if it’s a block away, you could not pinpoint the location of the stolen Mac. Then, there’s the problem with having no ability to send out the location connected to a wired network. Wi-Fi doesn’t just use the connected Wi-Fi base network for location. It uses all of the Wi-Fi it can “see” around it to generate a location.

Wierdostomps wrote:

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.

My M4 Mac Mini is set up that way and works without any issue.

Obviously the fixes mentioned here do not work for Pro Max chips but feel free if you don't have. I would think based on the fact that the most expensive Macs still have this issue makes the value not be worth it. To think this issue is exactly the same in 25 is beyond me. Took them last year 1 month to fix and this year it's been over 4 months. There is no way to enable Find My for 26 on Pro Max chips.

I agree. I have tried every solution offered but none of them fixes this issue. I have a Pro Max M2 chip, recently upgraded to MacOS 26.2. I have been trying to set this up for the last 4 months but no luck.

However, something strange started happening this week. Every time I leave my MB at home/work, I get a Find My notification on my iPhone that the MB is no longer with me, even if doesn't appear in the Find My Devices list (flagged as "Off" in Find My).

This looks like a bug that needs to be fixed ASAP.

Hi thank you for posting this question for everyone. I upgraded my MBA to Tahoe 26.0.1 yesterday and I have the same problem. Tried everything as a reasonable end user can do but couldn't fix. Scheduled a phone call with a senior advisor in a couple of days though not sure if they can help. Have you found a way to fix this by any chance and can share with me how? Many thanks.

I have intel MacBook Pro 16 inch .. same issue, I logged out of iCloud, toggled on and off all the recommended stuff and ran first aid on safe mode and still having the same issue. My M4 max shows up ok no problem

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…

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

Obviously, I was referring to this.

Why not maintain an approximate location (it’s not essential to have a precise one when talking about a device you don’t carry in your pocket) and notify you that Wi-Fi is needed to get it accurate to the meter, like iOS does?

It would still be better than not having it at all, don’t you think? 😉

And the most annoying thing is that the need for wifi on the Mac is not documented at all 🤷🏻‍♂️

Re: “It would still be better than not having it at all, don’t you think?”

Note that the estimated location might be off by dozens of miles, e.g. telling you that your Mac was located in another city, which happened to be where your ISP had a lot of their networking equipment.

It’s true that IP‑based geolocation cannot tell you how far the device is from the ISP’s registered location.

However, when a Mac is online, Find My does not rely only on Wi‑Fi triangulation. Apple also receives the public IP address used by the device at that moment.

With that IP, law enforcement can request from the ISP the exact physical address of the subscriber who was assigned that IP at that specific time.

So yes: even if a stolen Mac connects through Ethernet, the IP address is still enough for the authorities to identify the precise location through the ISP.”

Chiming in here to confirm that Find My does not work on a brand new M5 Macbook Pro. All of the above same issues. It actually won't let me turn it on. Says it does, but then loops back to off.

I am not on ethernet and always have WiFi and Bluetooth on (both of which are used for location). Not only can I not find my own laptop, it also means while using the laptop I cannot track any people or devices using the laptop.

[Edited by Moderator]

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.

Thanks, 99t1, for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I did already try that approach including performing first after a long power button press into safe mode. My Mac still isn't showing. I might try it again out of desperation and if it doesn't work I'll give Apple help a call and see if they can do anything. Such a strange bug.

Same problem. I've tried togging Find My on and off and signing in and out of my Apple ID several times with no success.

Same problem, i just tried 2hours to solve this but I couldn't. Then i realised it's macOS tahoe bug. Hope Apple will fix it soon.