macOS 26 beta: No Fast User Switching?

First of all, Fast User Switching works fine.

Secondly, I'm not sure what you mean by "secondary volume". I don't recommend trying to test with any kind of unusual boot configuration. You're liable to waste a lot of time writing up bug reports that way.

And finally, Fast User switching is an operating system feature. I'm unaware of any 3rd party developer API that might affect its behaviour. Therefore, it's not relevant to this developer forum.

However, the options for switching users without fully logging out are nowhere to be found.

The feature is still fully present (and, as far as I'm aware, works the same) but the UI configuration process has changed. Before this was toggled through:

Settings-> Control Center-> <Two check boxes>

In macOS 26 the entire Control Center settings pane has been removed and is now managed through an "Edit Controls" button at the bottom of control center itself.

Filed FB18155517 (macOS 26 beta: No Fast User Switching?)

Thank you. One of the many roles bugs serve is telling us what's confusing users, helping us highlight what we need to make sure we document/educate about.

Secondly, I'm not sure what you mean by "secondary volume".

I assume he's testing on a secondary volume instead of replacing his primary boot volume. This is exactly what I do for initial testing*. I'd certainly never recommend replacing the boot volume of any system I was actually planning to "use" with one our beta releases, particularly this early in the release cycle.

*Used to at least. I'm actually using a VM at the moment.

I don't recommend trying to test with any kind of unusual boot configuration.

I recommend that developers test whatever boot configurations you actually use. Strictly speaking the more unusual a boot configuration is the MORE important it is to test that boot configuration, since that gives us the most time to fix things if/when something is broken.

Having said that, I'll also note that the range of "normal" boot configurations is significantly broader than many people seem to expect. For example, most user (and some app) expect that a users home directory will be in "/Users/" and on the same volume as "the system". However, the system never required that and moving the home directory is a fairly standard technique in a variety use cases.

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Kevin Elliott
DTS Engineer, CoreOS/Hardware

First of all, Fast User Switching works fine.

Thanks for confirming this. It was not properly showing up in the configuration where I originally reported the problem.

I reproduced the same problem in an existing UTM VM with a single volume after adding a second admin user. In the original admin account, the Fast User Switching option wasn't available in the UI referenced by Kevin above. However, after logging out of that account and logging in to the new admin account, the Fast User Switching button was available in the Control Center's "Edit Controls" UI. So there may be a minor bug there.

This is not the same behavior that I saw with the installation on a separate APFS volume. However, I went through a more complex setup flow with that installation, as I initially migrated over my primary admin account settings from the primary volume, and then added a second admin account after I ended up with the wrong UID, which necessitated going through Recovery mode and disabling SIP to get the file ownership straightened out so that I could access my source files on the primary volume. I imagine something in that process caused the system to fail to recognize that a second account had been added, causing the feature to remain hidden.

I'm not sure what you mean by "secondary volume".

I assume he's testing on a secondary volume instead of replacing his primary boot volume.

Correct.

I don't recommend trying to test with any kind of unusual boot configuration.

I previously worked in Core OS for 12 years, so I'm pretty well aware that this is a supported and not extremely unusual boot configuration.

Anyway, as mentioned above, I expect the problem was not directly related to the boot configuration, but rather the account manipulations that I performed post-install.

the more unusual a boot configuration is the MORE important it is to test that boot configuration, since that gives us the most time to fix things if/when something is broken.

This.

Fast User switching is an operating system feature. I'm unaware of any 3rd party developer API that might affect its behaviour. Therefore, it's not relevant to this developer forum.

I am a developer and encountered this problem in my development workflow while trying to bring my apps to macOS 26, so I had reason to believe it might be relevant for others. Perhaps I'm wrong, but my understanding has always been that this forum is for developers to seek help with any issues they encounter while testing the betas. I've never known that the discussion should be limited strictly to APIs.

In macOS 26 the entire Control Center settings pane has been removed and is now managed through an "Edit Controls" button at the bottom of control center itself.

Right, I saw this, but as described above, the option wasn't showing up.

the Fast User Switching button was available in the Control Center's "Edit Controls" UI. So there may be a minor bug there.

I've always had Fast User Switching enabled. But after Kevin's description of the changes, I understand your confusion.

I am a developer and encountered this problem in my development workflow while trying to bring my apps to macOS 26, so I had reason to believe it might be relevant for others. Perhaps I'm wrong, but my understanding has always been that this forum is for developers to seek help with any issues they encounter while testing the betas. I've never known that the discussion should be limited strictly to APIs.

Back when Apple last re-launched these forums, they explicitly described them as "meant for code-level questions".

But at the same time, they seem to have removed any limitations on posting so that people no longer have to be members of the developer program. And beta questions still aren't allowed in the Apple Support Community, which is meant for end users. Normally it is an Apple-identified bot (or bot-resembling post) that kindly asks a spammer to spam in the other forums. So therefore, I assumed you weren't a developer.

But in all honestly, even those posts are preferable to the majority of posts in this forum that are simply complaining about Apple's App Review and developer program practices, which I can't do anything about.

So, yeah, I get frustrated with a "discussion forum" full of questions that are impossible for any non-Apple employee to answer.

I've had poor experiences using VMs to go forward in versions. Even installing a beta version in a VM requires a change to the host OS, which then makes your developer system slightly non-standard. I prefer to run betas, and often the current version, on a dedicated test machine. The time I save more than pays for the extra hardware costs.

what's confusing users

I understand your confusion.

I feel that "confusion" is a mischaracterization of my state. I understood from the outset where to look for the Fast User Switching settings. The fact is that the option is hidden in the failing configurations, as described previously. I think this is a bug (or possibly multiple bugs) in macOS, though admittedly probably a corner case, based on my current understanding.

Back when Apple last re-launched these forums, they explicitly described them as "meant for code-level questions".

I see, thanks for the reference. This still seems like the best place to discuss such issues with a beta, in order to raise the problem to the attention of Apple and other developers who may encounter it.

prefer to run betas, and often the current version, on a dedicated test machine.

Presently, a dedicated test machine is not financially justifiable for me, and it's also not very efficient. I would prefer the VM option if Apple Intelligence worked in a VM (but it doesn't).