Swiping between full-screen apps / lag in activation / lag in three-finger pointer action

I have recently purchased my first MacBook ever (a 14 inch M1 Pro).


Prepare for a long rant, and then please advise me.



There is a litany of baffling behaviours in MacOS, which seem intentional...

 

I will address the two most annoying and ridiculous ones:

 

1.

So I bought a MacBook, powered by the best and fastest chip in a device of this price range (and the price, btw, is 2000 euros) …and I am having trouble effectively copying text from one window to another. Read that again, please, and let it sink in.

 

What am I whining about?

 

I have a PDF reader and MS Word open, both in full screen.


After finding out that there actually is a way to double-tap and select text/move windows around, I quickly realise that after I select/move something, I have to tap AGAIN in order to de-activate the selection – why?! – why can I not let go of the touchpad to end the selection?


The ‘with drag lock / without drag lock’ setting apparently does not affect this behaviour, although the name would suggest it would (I still don’t know what that setting actually does).


Has Apple decided on this unintuitive behaviour simply to be "different" from Windows? Why not including a setting to satisfy these despicable Windows users? It makes no sense...

 

But that’s ok, I found something far better and more intuitive than what I had on Windows (in Accessibility/Pointer Control):


a way to select text and move windows by simply tapping 3 fingers on the touchpad. How awesome, I think, finally a useful gesture. This and the four-finger gesture to swipe between full-screen apps, will surely improve my workflow...

 

Then the next surprise: after I select some text in the PDF using this three-finger tap gesture, I need to…. and this with the super-duper M1 Pro chip inside… I have to WAIT for about 1 interminable second before I can copy the text. If I click Command + C too quickly, nothing is copied !


And not just with copying, but with any interaction on the keyboard. After I select something with the three-finger tap gesture, and click backspace to delete, for example, nothing happens. I have to WAIT a conscious moment each time !


This is not an issue when clicking on the touchpad and selecting the text that way, which I refuse to do. I know the haptic touchpad is super awesome and Apple tries to force its users to use it, but I want to interact solely through gestures.

 

Will it cost Apple billions of dollars to fix this, or at least add a setting to change this behavior?

 

2.

Ok, I think, trying to delude myself that this is not that big of an issue (you know, having to wait 1 second before copying plain text on a 2000 euro device).

 

I begrudgingly wait that 1 second and THEN click Command + C. I now swipe on the touchpad to switch the fullscreen window from the PDF reader to MS Word, and click Command + V to paste the text I just copied after consciously stopping my workflow for 1 second, into Word:

 

SURPRISE again! not that fast! I have to consciously wait AGAIN for about 1 second for that sleek transition animation to finish and for the MS Word window to VISIBLY activate... I actually see it activate after 1 full second, before which interacting with the window is not possible.


Let me emphasise this, because it is that ridiculous:

 

I swipe and the window (any window) appears, ok? It is fully there, the transition animation has completed, ok? And yet, I THEN have to still wait for the window to VISIBLY activate. If I click anything before the window activates, I am engaging with the window that is partially, or no longer on the screen!


And this on a 120Hz pro-motion display. You can't make this up.


So, I consciously stop and wait for the MS Word window to activate, and THEN click Command + V and paste the text. If I click too quickly, I will paste the text into the PDF reader, not Word...

 

And this 1 second delay affects any and all windows and commands: when I swipe to get to Spotify, which I am aware IS GOING TO SHOW UP, if I click on the space bar too quickly, I don’t pause/play the music, but insert a space in Word or scroll in the PDF reader…..

 

Please, I beg of you, please tell me I am an idiot and I'm missing a simple setting in MacOS that can fix this, because otherwise it is unfathomable to me that these are behaviours that have been around for who knows how many years and Apple has not yet rectified them, and that I am the first person ever to bring this up…No other MacBook users have complained about this? Really?!


Is this full-screen + swipe-to-switch feature and the three-finger pointer action, esoteric features only I am using? No one else notices the full 1 second lags each time?!

 

This cannot be possible.


PS: I’m ware I’m simply venting into the void here. It's a cathartic activity I felt the need to do. This will never in a million years be addressed by Apple, let alone fixed in Ventura (which instead adds ANOTHER mission control variant to be used by almost no one).

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 12.5

Posted on Aug 18, 2022 12:21 PM

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7 replies

Aug 20, 2022 7:53 AM in response to Christophor-Andor

Christophor-Andor wrote:

1 .After selecting text with the 3-finger gesture, why am I locked for a second before I can input keyboard commands like Command + C / V 1. to act on the selection.

2. Why is there such a delay when switching from one full-screen app to the other: there is an animation that must finish followed by another pause where the window visibly has to activate before one can interact with?



To trouble shoot further you can:


—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac - Apple Support


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



 —SafeBoot How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support will sort many anomalies


Takes a bit longer to get to the login screen, does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, font cache, etc., third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled.


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

 a  reboot will put it back to normal mode.


This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode. 


 


In General— 

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

all known to cause issues on the macOS




Aug 21, 2022 9:26 AM in response to Christophor-Andor

Christophor-Andor wrote:

No, it is not a "universal issue on my machine/macOS", it's just that macOS is a ****** OS, as I suspected from the beginning:

Laggy Swiping between Apps/Virtual Deskto… - Apple Community



You can submit your Apple Feedback here:  http://www.apple.com/feedback 

and/or

Contact the corporate office Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple



for further assistance —

Call Customer Support  (800) MYAPPLE (800–692–7753)


or on line  Apple Support


Aug 21, 2022 6:16 AM in response to Christophor-Andor

Christophor-Andor wrote:

I have tried both solutions as described, but as expected, these behaviours still occur (even in safe mode).

They are features, not bugs.



Both trouble shooting steps seem to indicate it is a universal issue on your machine/macOS


I have never seen these delays of which you speak... I will note I do not use the "selecting text with the 3-finger gesture..."



Verify your software is up to date—


The current stable release of Monterey including bug fixes, is macOS 12.5.1


Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support





Aug 19, 2022 7:08 AM in response to Christophor-Andor

Christophor-Andor wrote:

I have recently purchased my first MacBook ever (a 14 inch M1 Pro).

Prepare for a long rant, and then please advise me.




If there is a question, buried in there, could you restate it ...?



The current stable release of Monterey including bug fixes, is macOS 12.5.1


Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support




you can submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple



Aug 20, 2022 4:56 AM in response to leroydouglas

If you read my comment you would know what my questions are, you silly smarty pants. But I'll humour you. My 2 questions are:


  1. After selecting text with the 3-finger gesture, why am I locked for a second before I can input keyboard commands like Command + C / V to act on the selection.
  2. Why is there such a delay when switching from one full-screen app to the other: there is an animation that must finish followed by another pause where the window visibly has to activate before one can interact with?


Why are these counter-productive delays there? On a Windows machine with 10 year old Intel 32 bit chips, if you click Windows + Tab, the new window instantly appears and receives immediately any commands.


These seem to be (baffling) design choices, apparently without any choice to deactivate them.

Aug 20, 2022 11:00 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks Leroy for the tips.


I have tried both solutions as described, but as expected, these behaviours still occur (even in safe mode).


They are features, not bugs.


It just surprises me that this is not a well know issue Mac users are complaining about. It's hard to believe that no one else notices these 1 second locks between gestures and swiping between full-screen windows.


The famous MacOS lives up to its reputation...

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Swiping between full-screen apps / lag in activation / lag in three-finger pointer action

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