Tahoe performance issues and Apple Mail spinning

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Level 1

5 points

Tahoe performance issues and Apple Mail spinning

Tahoe is causing all sorts of problems. Dragging performance, spinning beachballs, lock-ups and freezes. I have to continuously close the lid and reopen to unfreeze it and reboot regularly to help performance. Apple mail just spins "downloading" constantly but never making progress. I have to quit and restart it multiple times a day. Tahoe is a mess on this computer. Who else is experiencing these issues and have you rolled back successfully? First time in my 20+ years with Apple that I need to get off of new OS.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Tahoe travesty

MacBook Pro (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Oct 16, 2025 6:35 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

neuroanatomist

Level 9

55,905 points

Oct 16, 2025 6:43 AM in response to rantrobus

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

Also…See if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode, which disables 3rd party extensions and performs some system cleanup.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

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Answer 2

rantrobus Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 16, 2025 9:14 AM in response to rantrobus

Here's activity monitor. Assistant_service and contactsd consistently bounce to the top.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 3

rantrobus Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 16, 2025 9:49 AM in response to neuroanatomist

It seems to be worse in safe mode. For example the dock glitches when popping up now. Also, I did provide a screenshot of Activity Monitor but accidentally posted in main thread.

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