5 Fixes When macOS Tahoe Feels Slower Than It Should
So you upgraded to macOS Tahoe, and now your Mac feels sluggish. Don’t panic — many of the slowdowns are temporary and fixable. Here are five things I try first when Tahoe bogs down.
1) Give it time — let background tasks finish
Right after the update, macOS does heavy lifting (indexing, syncing, caching). Let it run freely:
- Keep your Mac plugged in and connected to Wi-Fi.
- Let it sit idle for a few hours.
- Avoid forcing shutdowns mid-process.
Often performance improves after 24–48 hours. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
2) Free up storage space
Tahoe likes breathing room. If your disk is nearly full, system processes and swap files start choking.
- Open System Settings → General → Storage
- Delete large files (videos, ISOs, old installers)
- Empty Trash
- Move rarely used files off to external drives
- Keep at least 10-15% free space if possible :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
3) Cut back on startup & background apps
Too many apps running all the time kills RAM and CPU cycles.
- Go to System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions
- Remove anything you don’t need launching on startup
- Open Activity Monitor (Applications → Utilities)
- In the CPU tab, sort by % CPU to see which apps are hogging resources
- Quit or uninstall the worst offenders
- Also check for old kernel extensions or helper apps that may not be Tahoe-optimized :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
4) Reduce visual effects & transparency
The new “Liquid Glass” design is beautiful — but heavy. Tone it down for speed.
- Go to System Settings → Accessibility → Display
- Enable Reduce motion
- Enable Reduce transparency / Increase contrast
- Optionally choose a simpler wallpaper or fewer dynamic elements :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
5) Rebuild Spotlight & reset caches
Spotlight indexing or corrupted caches can drag performance down.
- Go to System Settings → Siri & Spotlight → Spotlight Privacy
- Add your main drive to the list
- Wait a few seconds, then remove it (this forces reindexing)
- Open Disk Utility → First Aid on your startup drive
- On Intel Macs: reset NVRAM / PRAM and SMC
- NVRAM/PRAM: restart and hold Option + Command + P + R
- SMC (if applicable): follow Apple’s instructions for your model
- Restart and see if things feel sharper :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}
Pro tip: Don’t try all five at once. Start with #1 (wait), #3 (kill extra apps), and #4 (visuals). Then check if things are better before moving on.
