Learn how to stop people from logging into macOS using a guest account, which will protect your privacy and prevent unauthorized access to your Mac computer.
Mac owners can share their computer with friends or family members by allowing them to log in to macOS using the built-in guest account. But if no one ever uses your Mac, you may want to turn off guest user access in macOS.
Doing so will increase your privacy by preventing unauthorized access through the guest account. Follow the instructions below to turn off guest login on your Mac.
Disable the guest login account on your Mac
- Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner and choose System Settings.
- Select the Users & Groups option in the System Settings sidebar.
- Click the info button ⓘ next to Guest User on the right side.
- Turn off the “Allow guests to log in to this computer” switch and click Done.
On macOS Monterey and earlier
If your Mac is running macOS Monterey or older, follow these steps instead.
- Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock.
- In the System Preferences window, click Users & Groups.
- If the padlock icon in the bottom-left corner is locked, click it and enter your macOS password when prompted to allow changes.
- Click Guest User on the left side, below the Other Users heading.
- Untick the box for “Allow guests to log in to this computer.” The Guest User option on the left side should now show ‘Off.’
- Hit the padlock in the bottom-left corner of the window to prevent further changes without permission.
With the Guest User option turned off, other people will no longer be able to use your Mac by clicking the Guest option on the login screen. Be sure that no one knows passwords for your other macOS accounts!
Control access to your Mac
macOS lets you create user accounts with different access privileges to control how other people can use your Mac. With multiple user accounts, you can easily share files and documents between people who use your Mac.
If you no longer need a specific account, macOS makes it easy to delete user accounts with a few clicks. And if you deleted a user account by mistake, macOS allows you to restore a deleted user account along with all its files and folders.