After updating to Mac OS Tahoe sometimes I get a slight flickering for 1-2 minutes. I use an Macbook Air M3 and I am connected to an external monitor using a Type C - Display Port cable. Before the update I didn't have any of these problems.
Did someone had this problem?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.0
I have a similar setup:
Mac Mini M4 Pro with a Dell monitor.
I'd like to share how I fixed the flickering issue.
The flickering is acknowledged by Dell and other vendors like BenQ—even with newer monitors—as something they cannot resolve on their end.
The root cause is Apple's display controller, which applies temporal dithering by default to simulate smoother gradients, even on high-quality monitors. This causes not only discomfort for sensitive users but also severe flickering in some setups, leading to eye strain and usability issues. macOS offers no built-in way to disable it permanently. That would be very nice if Apple would implement this feature.
The solution:
To disable dithering permanently on a Mac Mini M4, you can use a tool like Stillcolor to override the display controller's default behavior and set it to launch at login. Without third-party tools, macOS does not offer a built-in method to persistently disable dithering across reboots.
I have installed the tool with brew. Have a good day.
[Edited by Moderator]
There are multiple display issues I note. This is with the latest update of Tahoe 26.2 on an Apple Studio Display. In the Finder, List view of files I see some lines overwriting the line above or below it. See example. I have also had a few random icons on the desktop appear transparent when they should not.
Scrolling in Safari on Facebook can be extremely jumpy to the point of unusability. This does not happen when using Chrome browser on the same system.
None of these issues were present until after updating to Tahoe.
update: since bugraded to Tahoe, I had to pause every 15 mins due to eye strain. I switched back to my M1 which is still on Sequoia and I can keep working for hours without the eye strain. I really wish apple can take this seriously and provide a fix. My next step will be force downgrade this M4 to Sequoia.
Hello,
I’m facing the same issue. I use an M1 (2020), and I updated it to Tahoe 26.3. Ever since the update, my camera stopped working properly, it goes black and rarely shows my face clearly. Now my screen has also started flickering.
How can I fix this, please?
I am having the issue also, but what's the point of reporting since Apple doesn't listen to its customers anymore? iOS 26 was a complete disaster. Instead of admitting and bringing back the 18, Apple doubled down.
I am postponing an iPhone purchase depending on what Apple will do next.
iOS 26 works rather well, actually...
And while I agree that the "Liquid Glass" is poorly implemented, and has questionable design choices - YES, the huge rounded corners are terrible - for most of us Tahoe works just about the same as Sequoia did.
skyeac wrote:
I am having the issue also, but what's the point of reporting since Apple doesn't listen to its customers anymore? iOS 26 was a complete disaster. Instead of admitting and bringing back the 18, Apple doubled down.
I am postponing an iPhone purchase depending on what Apple will do next.
Well, my brand new MacBook Pro M4-pro came with this problem. I don't remember which version it came with, but this bug was already happening back then. I updated to Tahoe hoping it would be fixed... but it didn't work. Now the screen flashes purple repeatedly. Very annoying...
i have a m1 air and it also has same issue
I am also facing this on my macbook m1 pro 14.
Too add on i am not using an external monitor, i am talking about the actual MacBook display itself!
With so many people confirming the flickering and even reports why the flickering occurs I do not understand you blaming the cables. This is not very helpful in resolving the undeniable issue.
I've been running 26.0.1 for about 24h and have had no screen flicker with my setup.
MPB M3 Max in clamshell mode connected to Studio Display.
Fingers crossed this bug was squashed.
MacBook M2 Pro here. This flickering is hard on the eyes. When is Apple going fix/update?
MBP 2019; Upgrading to Tahoe 26.1 did not solve the screen flickering problem.
Same for me. Upgrading to Tahoe 26.1 on my Mac Mini (M2 chip) did NOT fix the issue for me either.
Screen flickering after updating to Mac OS Tahoe
