AppleBCMWLANCompanion

AppleBCMWLANCompanion

by FireWolf
Network Broadcom Lilu Plugin

Revives legacy Broadcom Wi-Fi cards on macOS Sonoma, Sequoia, and Tahoe without root patches

Download GitHub
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AppleBCMWLANCompanion

Apple Broadcom Wi-Fi Companion (BCMC) is a macOS kernel extension designed for selected Broadcom FullMAC Wi-Fi cards. It consists of a device driver that configures legacy Wi-Fi chips and a Lilu plugin that ensures compatibility with Apple’s new Wi-Fi driver.

Overview

Since macOS Sonoma, Apple removed native support for many Broadcom Wi-Fi cards that were previously used in real Macs and Hackintosh builds. The traditional workaround required root patches via OCLP, which has significant drawbacks. AppleBCMWLANCompanion provides a cleaner solution by reviving these cards through a kernel extension — no root patches needed.

Recommended by the Dortania macOS Tahoe guide as the preferred solution for Broadcom Wi-Fi.

Supported Chips

Chip NameDevice IDCard Names
BCM436020x14E4, 0x43BABCM943602BAED, BCM943602CDP, BCM943602CS, DW1830
BCM43500x14E4, 0x43A3BCM94350ZAE, DW1820A

Supported Systems

  • macOS Tahoe (26.0, 26.0.1, 26.1)
  • macOS Sequoia (15.7, 15.7.1, 15.7.2)
  • macOS Sonoma (14.8)

Features

  • No Root Patches: Works without modifying the system volume
  • Lilu Plugin: Integrates with Lilu for clean kernel-level patching
  • Native Wi-Fi Stack: Uses Apple’s native Wi-Fi driver framework
  • Active Development: Supports the latest macOS versions

Important Notes

  • VT-d must be enabled to use this kext — AMD machines cannot use it
  • Beta status: Not fully stable or feature-complete yet, use at your own discretion

Installation

  1. Download the latest release from GitHub
  2. Copy AppleBCMWLANCompanion.kext to your EFI partition: EFI/OC/Kexts/
  3. Add the kext to your config.plist under Kernel > Add
  4. Ensure Lilu is loaded before AppleBCMWLANCompanion
  5. Reboot your system

See the Getting Started guide for detailed instructions.

Troubleshooting

See the Known Issues page for current limitations and workarounds.

Boot arguments and device properties are documented in the repository:

Resources