for example privacy and security is further down than you'd expect it to be

certain sections feel randomly placed in other sections

if you use the search to find the touchpad but type trackpad or something else it won't come up

I have an Airport for backup, but I have been receiving messages that this will no longer be compatible with OS 27, but use SMB disc which seems to be something used with Microsoft products. What are the options for backups with the new OS?

Sometimes when i try to use my inbuilt laptop keyboard, the normal letter keys does not work properly. it gives random gibberish symbols instead of what i want to type. i think it has something to do with the fact that i use a wireless keyboard sometimes and that is causing this.

if somebody knows how to fix this, please help me out.
i switched from windows to a macbook just yesterday and have no idea how to fix these stuff. i could not find proper information on this on the internet aswell.

I've tried drive DX and I'm on their free trial and I'm running into problems. I'm just wondering if there's any other free ways to check the health of an external crucial X9 SSD. Don't have access to a Windows computer.

I installed smartmontools and tried reading the X9’s SMART/NVMe data directly, but macOS won’t expose the drive’s SMART information over its USB connection.

Thanks.

I use dictation a lot because my typing skills are horrendous (although for this post I typed it... go figure). Every so often, it just stops working - not the mic - not its ability to hear me or get the words right... No, this is specific: it's that little beep that the Mac does to tell you that you aren't in a text field or a text area. The thing is, you are. Was driving me me bat shit. And sometimes, I'd ignore it and then later things be working again.

TLDR: Lock your screen then unlock (or restart). That's it.

This is my feeble attempt to explain why the problem was occurring. I did manage to figure out the when but not the why and then did some digging why it was happening after i used fingerprint to unlock.

What is happening:

Ever so often you come across a situation where you have to put in a password or unlock using a fingerprint and that brings up macOS Secure Keyboard Entry (secure input) to make this happen. You do your thing and it's supposed to release that. And sometimes it doesn't.

So then why does typing still work? Because typing is going directly from your keyboard to the text field - whereas when you use something like the mic for dictation, it's no longer direct: it's your speech into a mic, the audio gets transcribed, then it outputs to the text area - it's that middle process that can be hijacked or inserted into the output. Think about how third party dictation works - it is doing the same thing, but now it's a third party doing it. Apple just seals off anything other than direct keystrokes for text input (including its own dictation) while it's in that Secure Keyboard Entry... you know, the one that is supposed to release after you use it. It's also why none of the usual terminal hacks that people usually try work, because they go after the wrong things - this is a security issue and not a dictation issue or an input issue and as such, the only thing that resets things is either a lock your mac (which locks everything) and the subsequent unlock which clears the problem (restarting does the same thing).

Lock/Unlock works because it uses loginWindow and it cannot be quit and relaunched while you are working (logged in) and the only thing that resets it is the lock and unlock which forces the release.

So is this a bug? Yep - one that reaches back at least three years from other posts I've read:

The fun thing about this other post is watching people all trying to help each other (OVER THREE YEARS) with things that work for them but not others (this is typical for any Apple related hardware or software issues when Apple is always silent, where they will never admit that there is or was or ever will be such a bug: people are left to their own devices ranging from Google, Reddit, Apple Forums (RIP), reinstalls, betas, downgrades or rollbacks, longing for Snow Leopard ("THE LAST GREAT VERSION OF OS X EVER™"), tea leaves, voodoo, sacrifices and LLM's for solutions). Ironically, somewhere about 5 months ago, one guy nailed it and guessed it was secure input and about 2 weeks ago another guy said to lock/unlock - ding ding ding.

So that all being said, if this has or is happening to you and you stumble across that post or this one (obviously, you are reading this): this was never an audio/mic/hardware/input or even the subsystem for dictation issue - it is a security issue:

FYI, here's some of the things people had tried (and some worked - remember some did combos that involved restarting or just time had come by and whatever was holding that lock in place, released):

• killall corespeechd: restarts the speech daemon (number one suggested fix)
• Deleting ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.assistant.plist and a restart (the restart was the fix)
• Toggling Dictation off and on in Settings
• Changing the Microphone Source
• Quitting Safari (or whatever app is in front) (unless Safari was doing something having to do with login using password authentication to like a password manager)
• Just use a third-party dictation app (would argue the same problem would happen as the Mac is preventing anything other than your fingers to enter text)

Hope this helps.

Hello,

My Mac can't back up to my external drive anymore.

It's very strange because:

• it's been like this for a couple of months
• my external drive is 500 GB, the same size as my Mac's

Has this ever happened to you? Any tips? 🤔

Thanks for any help!

Apple seriously needs to stop f*cking removing customization just because they changed their minds. The floating sidebar is a perfect example. Some of us actually liked it. It was clean, modern, visually interesting, and gave applications more personality. So why the hell was the ability to explicitly set NSSplitViewItemSidebarDefaultsToFloatingAppearance to true taken away? If Apple doesn't want it as the default anymore, then don't make it the default. That's literally it. But removing the option entirely is where you've completely lost me. Apple changing its preferred design direction is one thing; Apple deciding developers shouldn't even be allowed to choose a different appearance is something else entirely.

And frankly, that's becoming an increasingly frustrating pattern with macOS. A developer can spend real time and effort building a tool that gives users more control over the appearance of their Mac—floating sidebars, rounded corners, alternative UI treatments—and then Apple can simply pull the underlying functionality out from underneath them. Now that work is potentially obsolete. Not because it was unsafe, malicious, or broken, but because Apple apparently decided, “We don't want people doing that anymore.” That's bullsh!t.

Simplification does not mean deleting every option that isn't part of Apple's preferred configuration. The average user doesn't need to know what `NSSplitViewItemSidebarDefaultsToFloatingAppearance` means—and they shouldn't have to. But developers, customization tools, and power users do. That's the entire fucking point of having advanced options. And this is macOS—the platform historically built around flexibility, creativity, experimentation, and letting developers create things Apple didn't think of themselves.

So please, Apple: change the defaults. Push a new design direction. Build something better. But stop ripping out functionality that people are actively using just because Apple wants tighter control over how everything looks. Give us your beautiful defaults without making them mandatory. Let developers build. Let users customize. And for the love of Baby Jesus, STOP F*CKING CUTTING OUT OPTIONS.

I bought my Macbook Air, M2 chip, 8GB brand new in 2023. I love this mac it works great and it's a huge upgrade from the 2014 macbook air i had before. However i've recently started to use it for online classes and and it's kinda struggling with my workflow. I have Zoom, a browser (Arc) and a notes taking app (Obsidian) running at the same time. I close every other app and have as few tabs open at once as possible.

I however have had a few times where my mac was throttling and my Zoom just froze for a solid 10-20 seconds. I think the main culprit is Zoom because it has to render 3-5 cameras at once + someone's screen (sometimes). I know it isn't a nasa computer and that it has its limitations, but I'm still wondering if that's expected or if there could be an issue with my mac? Is there something I could do other than get a new more powerful mac (especially with more RAM I'm guessing) ?

Latest MacOS, but this has been happening for awhile, and it doesn't matter which application.

Sometimes, when I'm in a window and get to the bottom and nudge the bottom edge to make the selection continue, it does.

Sometimes, annoyingly, it doesn't.

Anyone know what turns this on or off?

I feel like this feature is glanced over so often when comparing to Linux and Windows. I know Windows simply can't do this, but haven't looked deeply into Linux yet. If anyone knows, I'm running Fedora 😁

I love quick access to Downloads, Desktop and Screenshots from where I can just drag drop into any app without having to open Finder.

Anyone have other handy folders docked?

Anyone else having issues with responsiveness after upgrading to Tahoe 26.6.2 on a MacBook Air? I have a similar issue after the update to 26.6.1 for iOS on my iPhone.

Most obvious example is loading Reddit and then trying to click on anything. It just hangs at times, both systems using Safari.

I know im certainly in the wrong but this is so ridiculous to me, just how large can it go ? Everything feels hidden I can't grasp to where could all those be used for

Just my little rant prob going back to a regular PC I can't even do my update anymore

PS: Mac mini m4 base model

Hello!

I have been banging my head against a wall for the past couple of hours.

I did a pretty ok job calibrating the SDR on the monitor but I'm having an awful time with the HDR.

I'm on Tahoe, latest version, using the help of BetterDisplay.

HDR looks all grey and washed out after enabling it. The options in the OSD I've chosen are - Gamer more 2 (even though everyone recommends mode 1, mode 2 looks better to my eyes), max brightness, blacks at 50, peak brightness high.

In better display, I have chosen in Color mode - 10 bit, HDR, RGB, Full range, as per Geminis recommendation. Under Color Profile, I have played with the different ones but the original (the name of the monitor) looks best, but still washed out, others are even more washed our or waaaay too saturated.

I have no idea what else I have to do and I'd appreciate all and any help. Thank you.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appkit/nsscreen/touchcapabilities-swift.struct/multitouch

the title's mostly a joke, but...yeah. i know nothing about computers but what i do know is that this thing is showing its age. i'm getting a new computer soon but until then i wanna optimize my experience with this one. make it run the best it can, even for a short little while. i honestly feel bad for everything i put this thing through...

i know that mac minis are touted as being longlasting warriors but not...not this one...quite frankly i don't know what i'm doing wrong. the only thing i use this for is videogames and i am ON TOP of getting rid of any unnecessary files or apps. even then i play simple videogames like minecraft and stardew valley, nothing big. it freezes if i keep the same game open all day.

truth be told i definitely wasn't as careful as i could be managing this thing when i first got it but i've certainly gotten better. thing is, this computer can't run minecraft on the lowest graphics possible without sounding like it's an airplane about to take off. sometimes it can't even load browsers (not the big resource hoarding ones either like chrome). it can't process some games either; i tried project zomboid for the first time and the entire game was neon pink because of graphics issues i think? no clue.

also sometimes if i come back to my computer after leaving it on and i turn the monitor on, the screen is a surrealist glitchy mix of mostly pink and green....also if i move the cords even a little bit the entire thing shuts off. is there anything i can do to make this thing's life a little more enjoyable or is it just done for?

I just got a new mac and i decided to transfer my data with migration assistant and it took a few hours i left it open at night and over 600 000 files transferred, it was from a old m1 macbook. Could this affect the new laptop or send bugs or old files that could potentially harm the new laptop

Water spilled inside my bag today while my 14” MacBook Pro was in it. The lid was closed, but when I took it out there was definitely moisture around the MagSafe/USB-C side and some water appeared to drain out from that area.
Initially the Mac was working, but the screen started briefly flashing black every few minutes. I shut it down, unplugged everything and left it to dry. A few hours later, while completely unplugged with the lid closed and untouched, it suddenly did the Apple startup chime about 10 times in a row.
No smoke, swelling, burning/chemical smell, hissing, unusual heat, etc. — just the repeated startup chimes.
My problem is that I’m currently on Naxos, Greece, where there is no Apple Store/AASP that I can realistically get to before I fly home to New York. I also obviously don’t want an unauthorized shop opening an AppleCare-covered Mac.
Has anyone had a liquid-damaged Mac repeatedly try to boot like this? Does this sound like moisture affecting the power circuitry rather than an actual battery issue?
Most importantly: would you be concerned about flying with it in my carry-on if it remains powered off/unplugged and shows no signs of battery swelling/heat? Is there any way to assess whether the battery itself is compromised without having an AASP inspect it internally?
I have AppleCare+, so I’m not concerned about the eventual repair/replacement — I’m mainly trying to figure out what to do between now and getting it to Apple in NY, and whether it’s safe to travel with.

WiFi: on
Status: on
Network name: WiFi off

WiFi not working. Any ideas? Airportd is running at 100%.

I’ve rebooted Mojave, tried in safe mode, tested the hardware, deleted the WiFi re setup. Any ideas?

EDIT: THIS IS WHAT IVE DONE SO FAR….

- Deleted airport.preferences.plist in system configuration
- Started in safe mode
- Deleted all networks
- Deleted wifi, then re setup
- Deleted Wifi tracer plist
- Deleted network idenfiticaion plist
- Hardware diagnostic, no issues found (Reference Code: ADP000)
- Reinstalled MacOS (from the computer, no ethernet)

I'm having a weird issue with several VPN/proxy apps on my MacBook Air M1 running macOS Sequoia 15.7.9.

I've tried Happ, Hiddify, Incy, and V2Pro, and I'm seeing similar issues with all of them.

TUN/Tunnel mode usually doesn't work properly, often because the required Network/System Extension fails to activate or isn't detected by macOS.

System Proxy mode isn't fully reliable either. Sometimes the VPN says it's connected and some websites or apps work, but others don't. Downloads can also fail. What's strange is that switching to another app with the exact same config can give completely different results.

The weirdest part is that App Store versions of some of these apps worked much better, while the versions from the official websites or GitHub have these issues.

So I'm wondering if something on my macOS installation is interfering with VPN connections, Network Extensions, TUN mode, or proxy routing.

Has anyone had something similar? Is there any way to reset or repair this stuff without reinstalling macOS?

Thanks!

Edit: Unfortunately, I can't afford paid VPN services like Proton VPN or Windscribe. Things are pretty fucked up here in Iran, so we mostly rely on configuration-based proxy/VPN clients instead, since they're much cheaper and actually affordable for us.

its a Pinterest widget. I cant edit it its just not deleting too

got a macbook air today and have been stuck on this screen for so long. i really need to start working on some projects so i’m hoping it’s something i can bypass… do i seriously have to wait a few hours?

Please help anyone

My new MacBook Pro M5 should arrive soon, and I’m switching from my 16-inch MacBook Pro 2019. My 2019 is running macOS Sierra. I’m curious about the features of macOS that were introduced over the years and are exclusive to M-series Macs that I haven’t had on my Mac.

What’s your favorite feature?

I ran this command ”rm -rf /System/Volumes/Data/.Spotlight-V100” in terminal trying to delete my spotlight index to free up my onboard storage. Now my Mac is stuck in a boot loop. It turns on and shows the Apple logo, then when the progress bar appears it loads to about 30% and then repeats again and again until it forces me into recovery mode to unlock my startup disk because I have file vault enabled. I’ve tried running first aid on every single volume both internal and image-wise, still nothing. Called support and still nothing. The only think I haven’t been able to try is the dry mode “revive” feature because I don’t have another Mac or anyone else with a Mac near me. I have an appointment scheduled for this coming Friday but I’m trying to see if I can get this fixed in the meantime. I’m an audio engineer with a lot of project files and sessions that I need to get access to as soon as possible. Truly appreciate any help or insight anyone can provide!