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Big Sur user account image not syncing with iCloud/AppleID account image:

Sowelu

Sowelu

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 15, 2008
833
1,052
New York City
Last year when I installed Catalina, my iCloud/AppleID image/photo (my Memoji) was defaulted as my macOS logon image during setup (which is what I want). When I installed Big Sur (clean, via USB boot), only the stock macOS user account images were showing when I got to the user account setup.

The correct iCloud/AppleID image (my Memoji) shows up everywhere else in Big Sur (iCloud, App Store, etc.), except for my user logon.

I signed into my AppleID during the setup process which is before you create a user account, so I am not sure why my AppleID/iCloud image didn't show up. I restarted a few times, and went into user account settings, and there is still only the default logon images that can be selected.

Is this a bug, or was this option removed from Big Sur?

Thanks!
 
Maybe a better way to ask the question is... Has anyone installed Big Sur (clean, not upgrade) and see their AppleID/iCloud account image set as their macOS account logon image?

My AppleID/iCloud image isn’t even a selectable option within user account option as it was in Catalina (yet, the proper Memoji image is shown in my AppleID settings and in the AppStore in Big Sur).
 
Last edited:
Same here, including the bug of just the initials in the App Store by having two Apple IDs.
 
Count me in too! Clean installed and had the same issue.

Also, additionally, when starting the system from a fresh turn on/restart, does your user pic look blurred for the first sign in? (applicable only if you have FileVault2 on)
 
So I guess this, on top of many other quirks and missing features are just a part of 'Big Sur'. Definitely feels beta to me. I hope Apple ends this yearly upgrade schedule and start working on quality and reliability updates, with emphasis on features, user options and GUI aesthetics and consistency.
 
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This has been an issue for me the past year running Catalina. My Apple ID photo on my MacBook never matched the Apple ID on my iPhone. I was hoping this was resolved with Big Sur but by reading this thread I guess not.
 
Sowelu said:
So I guess this, on top of many other quirks and missing features are just a part of 'Big Sur'. Definitely feels beta to me. I hope Apple ends this yearly upgrade schedule and start working on quality and reliability updates, with emphasis on features, user options and GUI aesthetics and consistency.
Click to expand...
lol, gawd that's a funny one, lol.
 
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Sowelu said:
Maybe a better way to ask the question is... Has anyone installed Big Sur (clean, not upgrade) and see their AppleID/iCloud account image set as their macOS account logon image?

My AppleID/iCloud image isn’t even a selectable option within user account option as it was in Catalina (yet, the proper Memoji image is shown in my AppleID settings and in the AppStore in Big Sur).
Click to expand...
I was having this problem until I logged into my M1 MBP. My intel machine did not have my iCloud image on it.
 
Both my 16" MacBook Pro and my M1 MacBook Air have this issue. I've since downgraded back to Catalina on my MacBook Pro. I guess it's just a Big Sur thing.
 
I had this issue too, and discovered that the problem can be corrected during setup. When you first login to iCloud, I noticed a very brief error window flash up and disappear, I can’t remember exactly when but I think it’s just after you login and before you accept iCloud terms and conditions. Immediately after you first login to iCloud click the “back” button until you hit the iCloud login screen again and go to login again, it then correctly downloads your Apple ID user image and assigns it to your user account.

An annoying quirk but I hope that this helps out somebody else!
 
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That is interesting... I don't want to start over just for this, so I wonder if there is a way to invoke the initial setup process/assistant to force the logon image to update if I take that back-forward step to jog it.
 
I'm GENUINELY not trolling here, but I've been a long-time Windows user (with the occasional Apple device) and for about a decade I've been able to use my Microsoft Account as my User Account (not just "link" them). I'm not sure if I'm doing/have done something wrong, or if it's design, or a defect with Big Sur, but I can't seem to do anything other than "link" the User Account on my MacBook with my AppleID. Is this expected?
 
Sorry for the very late bump but I came across the same issue.

I was able to resolve it by finding the contact for your user profile in the Contacts app on my old Mac (which had the correct profile picture), clicking the edit button and then immediately clicking save. This caused the contact on my new Mac to update which pulled down the contact picture and this automatically updated my new Mac's profile picture as well.
 
I accidentally discovered that there is a quick little trick to get around this bug.

When you setup your Mac for the first time, right after enter your AppleID credentials and hit next, hit 'Back' once, enter your AppleID password once more, click next, and voila, your AppleID image will now appear and will be properly baked into your Mac.

Since this bug is also present in Monterey, and this thread was bumped up, I figured I'd share.
 
GigabitEthernet said:
Sorry for the very late bump but I came across the same issue.

I was able to resolve it by finding the contact for your user profile in the Contacts app on my old Mac (which had the correct profile picture), clicking the edit button and then immediately clicking save. This caused the contact on my new Mac to update which pulled down the contact picture and this automatically updated my new Mac's profile picture as well.
Click to expand...
I might have just discovered a solution for Monterey while trying your solution; while editing your contact card, right click on the profile picture (on the main contact card page, before the pfp selection window) and it gives you the option to delete it and afterwards your iCloud picture takes it's place! I just set up my mac last week and figured I'd post this here
 
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