Mac Sequoia, Screen Flickering every few minutes

I've been having this all week as well. Like some others have mentioned, it's not just a cosmetic flickering, it's as if something is switching the focus of the app to something else. This frequently interrupts keystrokes when typing. And if you have any modal dialog, like a right-click, menu bar app, etc. those get dismissed as well.

What I've narrowed it down to on my end is some Python scripts that manage Docker containers. The script tries to access a file in `~/Library/Group Containers/...` to change some Docker settings, which requires permissions to other apps (or Full Disk Access). If I decline that access prompt, or disable FDA, the flickering stops, or at least becomes a lot less common, maybe once every few minutes (annoying, but usable). I've also tried to comment out the method call that does that file access, and it seems to also help, but unfortunately breaks some stuff with Docker, so I can't use that solution.

My M2 MacBook Air is on Sequoia 15.0.01 and this is happening to me as well. The flicker only happens to my desktop which flashes a solid dark grey wallpaper and then reverts back to my desktop image. I am also not running the Mendeley web importer extension.

Are you running more than 1 monitor

I get the flicker every 9 minutes - it starts every time by magnifying the main monitor image, the second monitor then goes blank, the image than eventually returns correctly on the main monitor, then a second or two later, the second monitor comes back ( but on accessions does not, whereby I have to put the system to sleep, then wake it again, and the second monitor comes back).

I am this very moment, after updating to the latest (24B82), with my second monitor blank after "the flicker", and still blank even though I use the technique I just mentioned in the previous paragraph which worked on the previous version.

The grey flickering desktop started when I tried a free three-month subscription to Apple Music. It happens once in a while throughout the day. It also happened when I downloaded a game from the App Store. I have a feeling it has to deal with privacy & location.

I have a 16" (Nov 2023) MacBook Pro M3 running Sequoia 15.0.1 and have this same issue. It does blink black, but other times, it blinks dark grey - like when you're going to take a screenshot of a particular window and space bar to select it. VERY annoying!!!

Upgrading to 15.1 solved the issue for me for about 1 day then it was back.

installed 15.2 yesterday fixed it again and has remained solved to now - will repost if it comes back again - fingers toes head all crossed in anticipation.

I upgraded to 15.1 three days ago and it fixed the problem initially, but then returned a few hours later?

Ugraded to 15.2 yesterday, and have not had an issue since - both main and secondary monitors exhibit no

dropping in and out at all - fingers crossed.

Same thing is happening to me on my MacBook Air M1. I first noticed it when my laptop ran on of space and memory. I cleared some junk though and reset my computer to also clear the cache, then I reset the wallpaper and reset my computer, but I still have the issue. I'm also on 15.0.1. Hopefully it will be fixed soon! I think it has something to do with RAM somehow, because I don't think it happened before that.

Found a temporal weird solution to this:

As soon as the flicker happens, I swipe the trackpad randomly very fast, idk somehow it prevents the next flicker.

Apple must take this issue ASAP, definitely software problem, it is super annoying and that a lot of users are experiencing this is just worse. Not to mention that if many users out there have changed the screen due to this issue.

I have the same machine with 15.1 and tried all except reinstalling my OS.

I suddenly started experiencing this issue on my MacBook Pro M2 yesterday (20th Nov 2024). The only thing I can link it to was installing Mos (a third-party mouse smooth-scrolling app) after my trusty Magic Mouse 1 died. I was on version 15.0.1, and when I saw the update to 15.1.1, I immediately installed it. This seems to have resolved the issue. I'm not sure whether it was actually related to the Mos app, but I thought I would share this with you.

Any solution?

Same issue here on macbook air m2

Me too with the MacBook Pro M2 and two external BENQ screens, connected via daisy chain all 3 scenes, the background are black for a second.

Same here on Mac Studio M1 Max