Accessibility Zoom on Dual Screens Mac OS

This is a major setback in the accessibility conditions of MacOS. Many of us with visual impairments need to extend our desk to the width of two adjacent monitors in order to work. We should all give a lot of attention to this situation, hoping that Apple is aware of the need and reverses the situation.

I completely agree -- Upon updating Sonoma the different screens zoom independently -- okay fine I get the feature, but it'd be great to support the "old" way of doing things, especially as this is what I've preferred and have gotten used to for years now since way before M1 MBPs -- this is what I've used since 2013, a decade ago!

I've tried "Zoom Style: Full Screen 'Display to use for zoom: All | Monitor 1 | Monitor 2 | ...'"

None of them do what I want

Issue: Severe bugs when utilizing zoom feature during video playback after recent update

Description:

The zoom functionality of the operating system is frequently utilized by myself throughout daily operation. However, since installation of the most recent software update, the intended behavior has become unreliable and problematic in the following ways:

1. The zoom synchronization between the native 1512 x 982 laptop display with ProMotion enabled and the connected 32-inch UltraFineTM Ergo external monitor has ceased to function correctly. The zoom levels on each display are now unaligned and do not match when the zoom function is activated through user input.
2. The system immediately freezes upon initiating any zoom gesture during concurrent video playback. The on-screen display remains completely frozen for approximately 30 seconds, while audio continues uninterrupted, until complete system crash and automated operating system relaunch.
3. These system crashes are routinely triggered under the above conditions, forcing unexpected termination of all software processes. A forced system relaunch is required to regain functionality after each occurrence.

Additional Information:

• Zoom feature was previously functioning as expected prior to installing most recent patch
• Freezing and crashes only happen when zooming specifically during active video playback
• Issue prevents proper intended usage of zoom feature which is relied upon regularly

Hi all, just had the same issue. But if you go to accessibility/zoom/advanced, there's a toggle for 'zoom displays independently' which when turned off, resolves this. Huge relief

I'm glad I found this forum post with others frustrated with this forced change with no way to revert to the old style zoom! I have been a Windows user for years and recently got into app development. My job provided me a Mac to make the Apple side of development easier. Being sight impaired I have always used magnification software on all the machines I use, never had any issues, up until today where I was forced to upgrade to macOS 14 to get the newest version of XCode and upon reboot my beloved zoom functionally was changed for the worse! Not only is the new default very difficult to use and I don't really see how its of use to anyone who uses dual screens, THERES NO WAY TO REVERT TO THE "PROPER" BEHVIOUR!

Until today I was pleasantly surprised by the Mac and was actually considering making my next personal machine a switch to Mac, safe to say I'll be sticking to Windows until they can fix this issue as I essentially cannot use the Mac without having the zoom function.

I really hope Apple read these posts. The zoom features is the main reason I've used a Mac for work for the last 14 years. As a partially sighted user the new independent screen zoom is a real hindrance, for me it's a huge step backwards. Please, please give us the option to use the old style multi-screen zoom.

It has not been solved properly. Yes, all screens zoom as one again, but the borders between screen cause scroll, where only the outer boundaries of the screen estate should cause scroll. One workaround to cut the pointer lose is to move it straight up and down just after crossing the boundary, but that can't be a solution and is not an acceptable workaround. This is still a bug.

Thanks to the insistence of many of us, the problem has been solved in Sonoma 14.4 (silently)

Thanks also to Apple for rectifying.

Thank you!!! 🫶

That solved my issue.

No more "system freeze/restart" when using the zoom feature while watching videos.