Apple Removes Network Locations Feature in macOS Ventura

[sdf]

It's possible however that the MacOS may try to use WiFi, even when it is manually positioned as lower priority, if it believes the WiFi connection is actually faster than the wired connection.

I don't think that's the case with macOS. There's a similar option on iOS (to use cell to boost WiFi), and it is indeed optional behaviour.

 

[Devnul0]

The use case is simple: remote work uses a SOCKS proxy, everything else does not. If the laptop is at home, I use one "Location" that enables the SOCKS proxy. If the laptop is elsewhere, I have to run the proxy myself locally and use a different "Location" with a different proxy url. For anything else, I use a "Location" that doesn't try to reach work. I don't need the automatic changes or any of that, but definitely need the ability to change the settings often.

 

[Rankrotten]

Upgraded to MacOS 13 Ventura and all my existing locations are available under the apple menu. It seems that previously created locations are carried over.
The GUI may be gone to create new locations but it can still be done via terminal.

Bring Back missing Network Location in macOS Ventura

In this comprehensive tutorial, we will show you the steps to bring back the missing Network Location feature in macOS Ventura.

www.droidwin.com

 

[danskoya]

Very disappointed with the removal of option in the UI. Using the CLI tool "networksetup" is ok by me, but the UI really makes it faster.

My usecase is toggle local/remote Proxy servers listening on different ports. Each instance and listening port is tied in to a set of ACLs (allow/deny facebook, banking, forums, etc..) - look into Squid and using multiple configuration files.

All versions of Windows and Linux doesn't have this feature. They don't have any equivalent of this tool. Only found on macOS. Not very happy at the moment.

 

[RumorConsumer]

Very disappointed with the removal of option in the UI. Using the CLI tool "networksetup" is ok by me, but the UI really makes it faster.

My usecase is toggle local/remote Proxy servers listening on different ports. Each instance and listening port is tied in to a set of ACLs (allow/deny facebook, banking, forums, etc..) - look into Squid and using multiple configuration files.

All versions of Windows and Linux doesn't have this feature. They don't have any equivalent of this tool. Only found on macOS. Not very happy at the moment.

I know man. Im kinda like... what do I do every 4 years when I need to test a new location? Bummed.

 

[farhad_ris]

Pardon my ignorance on this matter, but how was this used? I mean you would connect to a different network depending on where you were, wouldn't you?

I can see many more dev niche use cases in the comments but for me the way I used it outside of my dev work was to have an insecure configurations in my locations that when selected moved my iPhone USB (hotspot by cable) above the wifi... in this case my laptop by any chance wouldn't switch from my personal hotspot on my phone to another public wifi that deemed to consider safe... this was a very good practice when working on a coffeeshop or something...

 

[alexandr]

I can see many more dev niche use cases in the comments but for me the way I used it outside of my dev work was to have an insecure configurations in my locations that when selected moved my iPhone USB (hotspot by cable) above the wifi... in this case my laptop by any chance wouldn't switch from my personal hotspot on my phone to another public wifi that deemed to consider safe... this was a very good practice when working on a coffeeshop or something...

Gotcha. But without this feature, your device will drop your hotspot in favor of a random wifi connection?

 

[a3Dman]

I did not expect this but Apple added the functionality back to 13.1.

Use network locations on Mac - Apple Support

Use the network location feature in macOS to quickly switch between different sets of network settings.

support.apple.com

 

[Steve01234]

great find ! but the new system prefs has to be the most disorganized mess I've ever seen in a UI. send feedback to apple they need to at least put categories into alphabetical order instead of the random order they have now.

 

[a3Dman]

great find ! but the new system prefs has to be the most disorganized mess I've ever seen in a UI. send feedback to apple they need to at least put categories into alphabetical order instead of the random order they have now.

I don't think having it sorted in alphabetical order will be intuitive for most users. Still, you can get them in alphabitical order by clicking the view menu or the dock icon:

 

[rpmurray]

I did not expect this but Apple added the functionality back to 13.1.

Use network locations on Mac - Apple Support

Use the network location feature in macOS to quickly switch between different sets of network settings.

support.apple.com

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OMG! Apple listening to the users? Has hell frozen over?

 

[RumorConsumer]

OMG! Apple listening to the users? Has hell frozen over?

nobody will ever remember.

 

[1madman1]

Great to see, but looking at the above screenshot - what's with that new network preferences UI? That's the sort of inefficient trash I'd expect from an iPad.

Why fix what wasn't broken?

 

[danskoya]

That's wonderful news!