Become an Apple Genius
> Fix your Mac fast with our in-depth guide
Written by Carrie Marshall
Youknow the line: when you have Apple hardware, it just works. But while that’s true most of the time, sometimes it doesn’t just work. Sometimes your Wi-Fi goes weird, your system slows or your everyday app crashes. What then?
If your Mac’s misbehaving, don’t reach for your iPhone to book that Genius appointment just yet. The majority of Mac problems are straightforward to fix, and in most cases they can be sorted in much less time than it’d take to travel to the nearest Apple Store or get a convenient appointment. It’s great that Apple Geniuses and Apple Support are there for us, of course, but it’s also great when we can solve the problems ourselves without having to go anywhere.
Troubleshooting can be intimidating, we know, especially if you’re not particularly technical. But you don’t need to be techie to fix most Mac issues. Whether it’s wonky Wi-Fi or unresponsive apps, a file you didn’t mean to delete or an iCloud service that simply isn’t syncing, you’ll discover the tricks, tips and tools you can use to diagnose and solve all kinds of Apple problems so that once again, you can look at your Mac and say “it just works”. Let’s uncover your inner genius.
Getting started
What to do when you’re struggling to do anything at all
Why won’t my Mac start?
> Don’t panic: chances are it’s a minor and easily fixed issue.
Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds to ensure your Mac is turned off and then restart it while holding down ⌘+å+p+r. This resets the non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) that your Mac uses to store basic settings. Keep the keys pressed until you’ve heard the startup chime twice. No luck? Restart again but this time hold down ⌘+r. This will launch the Recovery console from which you can run Disk Utility’s First Aid feature.
My Mac crashes on startup. Why?
> It’s likely to be a software problem. If your Mac contains Apple’s M1 chip, turn on your Mac and keep pressing the power button until Startup Options appears; select your startup disk, press and hold ß and click ‘Continue In Safe Mode’. On an Intel Mac, just restart or start your Mac with the ß key held down until you see the login window. If the problem persists in Safe Mode you’ll need to reinstall macOS entirely; if it doesn’t, unplug external hardware and remove login items from System Preferences > Users & Groups.
My Mac keeps freezing. What can I do?
> Is it your whole Mac or just Finder? If it’s the latter you can restart Finder (which includes the menu bar and your desktop) by clicking > Force Quit > Finder > Relaunch. But if it’s your whole Mac, restart without any external hardware and see if the problem goes away: if it does, re-connect things one at a time until the problem comes back. Whatever you added most recently is likely to be the culprit, so check the manufacturer’s website for updated driver software.
My Mac takes forever to log me in. Why?
> If it takes ages to log you in, have a look under your user name in System Preferences > Users & Groups. This enables you to see your login items, which are the apps and app helpers that load when you log in to your Mac – things such as cloud storage services or the little apps that live in your menu bar. The more things your Mac has to load, the longer login will take. To remove a login item, select it and then click on the ‘–’ sign. This doesn’t uninstall it; it just stops it loading at login.
Why can’t I log in?
> If your login password isn’t working, restart your Mac. When you see your user account, click on the ‘?’ in the password field and then click ‘Reset It Using Your Apple ID’. You should now be able to reset your password. To change other users’ passwords, go into System Preferences > Users & Groups.
Why is this app misbehaving?
> We encounter this most frequently after software updates, whether those are for an individual app or the entire macOS: an app that worked just fine in version 1.3 is weird in 1.4. The solution to both is the same: wait for the app maker to update their app.