iOS 26 breaks WI-Fi sync with Mac?

TidBITS Talk
1

After I installed iOS/iPadOS 26 on my iPhone and iPad, they no longer appear in my Mac’s Finder over Wi-Fi. Has anyone else seen this?

I’ve tried…

  • Restarting device
  • Restarting Mac
  • Restarting Router
  • Toggling the “Show this iDevice when on Wi-Fi” setting in the Finder window
  • Changing Private Wi-Fi (MAC) address from Fixed to Off

The iMac can see the devices when plugged in via USB, just not on Wi-Fi. This worked before the upgrade.

2

All good for me. iPhone 26.5.1. MBP 26.5.1. Both Wi-Fi. I have Private Wi-Fi off. What versions are your devices using?

Just checking: Do you have “CDs, DVDs and iOS Devices” enabled in Finder Settings > Sidebar?

3

I have iOS devices enabled for Sidebar, which is why the devices appear when plugged in. It is just Wi-Fi that is broken.

My 2017 iMac is stuck on macOS 13 Ventura. I’m stuck on the iMac because Intel. We’re in the stage where it is being abandoned by an increasing list of applications.

Didn’t there used to be a setting in the iDevice itself for allowing sync over Wi-Fi?

4

Something has indeed changed!

When I try to access the iPhone from my Intel iMac (macOS 15.7.7) the iPhone does not appear in the sidebar when using Wi-Fi - just like for you.

I use iMazing (on Sequoia) for backup of my iPhone. It has been failing (since iOS 26.5) when connected via Wi-Fi. Works via USB. Wi-Fi was working a few weeks ago (iOS 26.4).

My tentative conclusion is that iOS 26.5 has caused the failure of Wi-Fi connections with pre-Tahoe macOS. I will attempt to investigate further.

5

Looks like a “known” problem with iOS 26.4 and, for me, with 26.5 and 26.5.1.

Read this iMazing page iOS 26.4 and Wi-Fi Device Connectivity . Seems like the issue is known to iMazing. It includes this workaround:

  • For both Windows and macOS, turning off the iOS Private Wi‑Fi Address option may help (iOS Settings app > Wi‑Fi > Select Wi‑Fi network > Private Wi‑Fi Address > Select Off). Then connect your device via USB so iMazing can acquire the new address.

I have tried that, but it does not fix things for me with either Finder or iMazing. From what you said in the first post, that doesn’t fix it for you either.

I am unsure whether this is an iOS 26.4 or 26.5 issue - not that it really matters.

Edit: After a restart of macOS Sequoia, my iPhone appears in the Finder Sidebar. :slight_smile: But Finder does not display any content. :frowning: I still have Private Wi-Fi Address off. Though it doesn’t matter to you, iMazing is now doing backups over Wi-Fi.

6

Thanks for the iMazing link. I did…

I followed the path to turn off Private Wi-Fi Address and iMazing immediately saw it and backed it up, even though it was on Wi-Fi the entire time. Fixed?

No, like you it was in the Finder sidebar but blank sheet. My normal procedure for that symptom is to kill the AMPDeviceAgent process.

This didn’t fix it. And then I went through a bunch of rounds of plugging / unplugging, with various symptoms, including the iPad asking if it should trust the iMac. I thought I had it fixed, but now I’m back to the original symptoms: doesn’t appear in the Sidebar or iMazing when not plugged in.

Wait… I can reliably get to that state now.

  1. Turn off Private Wi-Fi Address, or turn it on and turn it off again, until iMazing shows a Wi-Fi connection. If iMazing can’t see it, there’s no hope for the Finder.
  2. Kill AMPDevicesAgent and AMPDeviceDiscoveryAgent.
  3. Relaunch Finder

At this point with the iPad not connected, it does appear in the sidebar, but attempting to select the device just shows “Loading”.

So there’s something weird going on. I wonder if the Private Wi-Fi Address is really a key component, or if it is just the fact that changing it from off/on/off causes the MAC and IP addresses to change.

7

Doing some troubleshooting with help from an AI…

It looks like there’s two problems.

  1. Discovery is less reliable or is dependent on private Wi-Fi address being off.* That’s why appearance in iMazing is kind of flakey, as is appearance in the Finder sidebar.
  2. The connection layer depends on some changes in macOS 26, but iMazing may have included those changes. This is why the Finder times out at “Loading” but iMazing can connect.

* Or it isn’t that it is off, it is that changing on/off causes a lot of state changes that kicks re-discovery.

Or, older software is making assumptions it shouldn’t about the Bonjour service name containing an embedded IPv6 address, which is derived from MAC address, so it really does break it if iOS is faking the MAC address for the WiFi connection.

8

@mschmitt We are both at the same point. Private Wi-Fi off helps with discovery. Then iMazing sees the iPhone content, but Finder does not.

One thing I have is a manual IP4 address. You might think that would aid discovery, but it doesn’t.

I am guessing that we won’t get a fix for Finder unless Apple backports macOS 26.4/5 changes to Sequoia and that is unlikely.

9

Um, er . . . I completely understand why you would want wifi connections to work, here, but if it’s flakey? Why not just plug the dern things in? :smile:

Dave

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