Apps slow to open and respond after macOS Tahoe 26.1 update

Symp EL wrote:

After updating to macOS Tahoe 26.1 I have noticed that apps like Pages, Pixelmator Pro, GarageBand, and Numbers are taking much longer to open. I frequently get the spinning beach ball, and even simple actions like clicking a file name to rename it, saving a file, or closing an app take two to three seconds to respond.

I have already tried uninstalling and reinstalling the affected apps as well as rebooting multiple times, but the issue persists.

I am running a MacBook Air M2 with 16 GB of RAM and nearly 700 GB of free storage space, so hardware limitations should not be the issue.

Has anyone else experienced this or found a fix? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Have you shut down and restarted more than once since your 26.1 update...

—A SafeBoot Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

Does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled temporarily.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

unplug all non-essential peripherals when testing

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS

no insight

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 

It is possible there are processes running in the background that are using significant resources. Check Activity Monitor, CPU tab, sort by % CPU to see what's running hard.

Activity Monitor User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

Symp EL wrote:

I wasn't able to test another user until now. No issues on a newly created "test user" with admin privileges.

It would seem then, there is something in your main Admin account...causing you some issue.

You can get a good look at your User/System config. and reveal conflicts or issues, you can download/run this trusted utility  https://etrecheck.com 

If you need help interpreting the report you can post it here in its entirety in the "Additional Text" box in the editing toolbar below, in your reply.

you can ref OldToad post for some clarification if needed:

How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

This happens on Sequoia too. It is usually some extension or installed background-running app. In my case, it was Bartender that slowed the system down to a crawl. I removed Bartender and switched to the free and open-source Ice menu bar manager (https://icemenubar.app/).

Symp EL wrote:

Safe Boot didn’t work. I don't have anything plugged into the Mac and don't use any cleaners or antivirus.

ok...

you make no statement about your experience in the other test user account?

if no resolve—

you can reinstall the macOS on top of your existing macOS to sort update issues, and compare your results.

How to reinstall macOS Recovery (both M1/M2/M3/M4 and Intel) — How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

Known issue being addressed:

macOS 26.1 – Severe lag in Open/Sa… | Apple Developer Forums

A fix is available. macOS 26.1 – Severe lag in Open/Sa… | Apple Developer Forums

I suppose if I tried to present it again it would again be edited away. The gist was that the problem was introduced with 26.1, is unrelated to disk corruption, and represents a bug needing to be fixed. I’ve reported it via feedback for whatever that will accomplish. Not usually much in my experience.

I’ve just tried the steps indicated in that report and have seen no change. I also did a full resync with iCloud Drive and saw no change. It’s tedious but at least as it’s a known high-priority issue we might see a fix in 26.2.

This is not a fix. It's a work-around. A fix addresses the underlying issue. Disabling other standard functionality that many rely upon in order to alleviate the symptom of the problem is not a fix.

[Edited by Moderator]