How to Change Your Profile Picture on a Mac Computer

Give your Mac a more personal feel by customizing your profile photo

Co-authored by Mitch Harris

Last Updated: February 11, 2022 Tested

The profile picture on your Macintosh (Mac) computer is also known as your user picture. It displays when you first log in to your Mac account, and when you use applications such as iChat and Address Book. Although your profile picture is typically chosen when you initially set up your Mac computer, you can change your profile picture at any time through your System Preferences menu.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Accessing the Profile Picture for a User

1
Open the Apple Menu. Click “System Preferences”, then click “Users & Groups”.^{[1]
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Expert Source

Mitch Harris
Consumer Technology Expert
Expert Interview. 16 July 2021.}
2
Log in as an administrator. You will have to click the padlock icon to unlock this first, and enter in an administrator name and password.

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3
Select the user account to change. Click the picture. This will open a menu to allow you to choose your image source.^{[2]
X
Expert Source

Mitch Harris
Consumer Technology Expert
Expert Interview. 16 July 2021.}
- Alternatively you can now simply drag and drop the picture onto the user account.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Selecting an Image Source

1
Select a Category for the image. Options include “Defaults” (pictures that were included with OS X), “Recents” (recently used user pictures), and “Linked” (pictures from your contacts). You can also select “Faces” to have OS X automatically detect and extract faces from your saved images. Select “iCloud Photos” to use a picture you’ve uploaded to iCloud. If you want to use a photo you take right then in front of your computer, see below.
- You’ll need to turn on the iCloud Photo Library before you can use it as a source of profile pictures. Open the Apple Menu, click “System Preferences”, then “iCloud”, then “Preferences” (next to “Photos”). Select “iCloud Photo Library”.
2
Click “Edit” on the button beneath the selection of images. This will allow you to zoom in on parts of the image and crop the final profile image.
3
Click the photo you want to use, then click “Done”. The profile picture will change for the user you selected.^{[3]
X
Expert Source

Mitch Harris
Consumer Technology Expert
Expert Interview. 16 July 2021.}

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Using a Picture Directly From the Webcam

1
Click “Camera”. It is on the menu that appears after you click the user picture, along with the other options for image sources.
2
Click the camera button that appears. Your computer’s installed camera will take a photo after a three-second delay.
3
Click “Edit” on the button beneath your image. Crop the image as desired.
4
Click “Done”. The profile picture will change for the user you selected.

Community Q&A

Question

When I click the photos, it says 'no photos found', but I do have photos. What do I do?

Ganesh Karki

Community Answer

Simply drag and drop the picture onto the user account profile picture directly.
Question

How do I upload a downloaded (from browser) photo to my login picture on Mac?

Community Answer

Drag the photo from your desktop into Photos. Then, when changing your photo, you can select the downloaded image.
Question

When I tried to drag the photo from my desktop it didn't work. What can I do?

Community Answer

You need to go to 'System Preferences'. Then, you need to go to 'Users and Groups'. Once you're there, click on your profile and the image. A small text would pop up in the image saying 'edit', then you can click and change your profile picture.