I have set up rpi-usb-gadget on a RPI Zero W. When connecting to a MacOS, ipadOS, or iOS device, the RPI gadget shows up correctly, with a new network service, "Raspberry Pi USB Gadget". Everything works as expected if ICS is set up on the Mac device, with the RPi reachable via [hostname].local or a typical address such as 192.168.2.1.
However, if ICS is not enabled, the device is unreachable. It appears the SHARED mode DHCP assignment from the RPi does not happen quickly enough, and the Mac will give it a self-assigned IP address in the 169.254.. range. The RPi is not reachable at the fallback address of 10.12.194.1 and is not connectable via SSH at the self-assigned IP address.
I have confirmed this behavior on Macs running MacOS 26 and an iPad running iPadOS 26.
I have set up rpi-usb-gadget on a RPI Zero W. When connecting to a MacOS, ipadOS, or iOS device, the RPI gadget shows up correctly, with a new network service, "Raspberry Pi USB Gadget". Everything works as expected if ICS is set up on the Mac device, with the RPi reachable via [hostname].local or a typical address such as 192.168.2.1.
However, if ICS is not enabled, the device is unreachable. It appears the SHARED mode DHCP assignment from the RPi does not happen quickly enough, and the Mac will give it a self-assigned IP address in the 169.254.. range. The RPi is not reachable at the fallback address of 10.12.194.1 and is not connectable via SSH at the self-assigned IP address.
I have confirmed this behavior on Macs running MacOS 26 and an iPad running iPadOS 26.