macOS menu bar disappears during desktop scroll

Question

Level 1

12 points

macOS menu bar disappears during desktop scroll

Hello everyone I have a MacBook Pro M1 Pro. Since about macOS 12 Monterey, I have been experiencing a problem with the animation of the menu bar, which is located at the top of the desktop. On earlier versions of macOS, when scrolling through macOS windows using a gesture (three fingers left-right), the line did not disappear, but remained and was monolithic with the desktop. Starting with macOS 12 Monterey and still in the newest version of macOS Tahoe 26.3, when scrolling windows with a gesture, the menu bar on the desktop disappears during the slide animation and appears only when the desktop window has stopped in place. Back in 2021, I contacted Apple support, where my request was passed on to the engineers. I received a response that this animation bug was a performance issue, even though M2 had just been released that year. It was strange to hear that M1 Pro can no longer pull the animation of the desktop slide. For the sake of interest, I decided to go to the store and looked at the MacBook in the window, which was with the newest M2 at that time, and the problem repeated itself there, when animating, the menu bar on the desktop disappeared and appeared only at the end of the animation. I've tested this in other years on M3 and M4 as well. I wait every system update for this bug to be fixed, but so far nothing has changed. Is there any way this can be fixed locally, or is it a global problem? What caused it? Why didn't this happen on older versions of macOS, but on modern versions starting with macOS 12 it appeared?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.3

Posted on Feb 12, 2026 12:09 AM

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Answer 1

Zurarczurx

Level 4

2,918 points

Feb 12, 2026 2:55 AM in response to mermurmed273

It doesn't happen with my Mac. I've used full-screen spaces for a long time and although they have their foibles I've never seen problems like this with the menu bar. You could try dragging the date, time, etc to different positions (hold cmd then drag the item. some can't be dragged) to see if it makes a difference.

The only other thing I can suggest is to create another user and see if they have the same problem. If they don't then it means it's a configuration that you've set somehow.

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Answer 2

Feb 12, 2026 3:18 AM in response to mermurmed273

When switching from an application in FULL SCREEN to another Desktop, I see a maybe 0.5 second delay before the icons on the right side appear. I do NOT see this when switching between Desktops.

AFAICT, this happens because in Full Screen the menu bar does not show.

(FWIW, I never use Full Screen, so I would not have encountered this.)

Perhaps since these items are so important to, you have an EASY solution:

System Settings->Menu Bar->Automatically Hide and Show the Menu Bar->NEVER

This will make the menu bar appear always - including in Full Screen applications - and eliminate this delay you are seeing. Try it.

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Answer 3

Feb 12, 2026 4:22 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Zurarczurx wrote:

Are you both on Tahoe? I'm on Sequoia and I see zero delay when I cmd-tab or swipe between full-screen apps and/or desktops.

Yes, I am running Tahoe.

I have now tested in another mac running Sequoia, and it does not exhibit the issue.

Interestingly, the OP mentioned this happening across multiple versions of the OS, though.

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Answer 4

Zurarczurx

Level 4

2,918 points

Feb 12, 2026 1:46 AM in response to mermurmed273

What are your settings for "Automatically hide and show menu bar"?

Have you got any apps running in the menu bar? (e.g. I have an app that displays current playing music track in the Menyu Bar"

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Answer 5

Feb 12, 2026 1:12 AM in response to mermurmed273

First, a note: when using three-finger swipe (or four-finger, depending on trackpad settings), this is not scrolling windows, it is changing Spaces (a.k.a. "Desktops").

If this is not what you meant, then please clarify.

FWIW, I cannot reproduce the issue you describe. As I swipe left or right, the menu bar slides, together with the contents of the Space.

I am particularly surprised by your report that the same happens in display machines at the store.

I am thinking that we may be talking about different things.

Perhaps you may want to add some details, or clarification.

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Answer 6

mermurmed273 Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 12, 2026 2:26 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I'll try to describe it differently. When the windows are open in full-screen mode, they scroll with three fingers from left to right. By flipping through it, you can switch between a full-screen browser and a desktop. If you switch from the desktop using a slide, switch to a full-screen application, wait 1-2 seconds (without swipes) when the window becomes active, and then make the slide back to the desktop. During the animation and for another 1-2 seconds, the date and clock in the menu bar, which is located in the upper-right corner, will disappear. It will appear as soon as the desktop "unfreezes" after the animation and becomes active. Previously, even during animation and freezing, the date and clock remained in the menu bar in the upper-right corner. Can you tell me if it was possible to reproduce the problem on your device using this more detailed description?

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Answer 7

mermurmed273 Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 12, 2026 2:29 AM in response to Zurarczurx

I don't to hide the row, but I need to display it all the time. There are a minimum of icons in the row, only the system ones, magnet and fan control. The windows in the Macbooks stores are empty, without third-party applications, but the problem was also reproduced on them.

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Answer 8

Johne154

Level 2

387 points

Feb 13, 2026 1:17 AM in response to mermurmed273

I have a similar problem that only seems to occur when the Dock is hidden with cmd + option + d. Then some apps are taller than the screen.

If I show the Dock again with the above keyboard shortcut, then the apps are the same size as the screen.

I put in Feedback to the Logic Pro Team, but your issue has me thinking that this is a MacOS 26 issue, not limited just to Logic Pro.

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Answer 9

Zurarczurx

Level 4

2,918 points

Feb 12, 2026 3:50 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Are you both on Tahoe? I'm on Sequoia and I see zero delay when I cmd-tab or swipe between full-screen apps and/or desktops.

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Answer 10

mermurmed273 Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 13, 2026 12:41 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Do you have the opportunity to record a demo of the screen? So that I can see for sure if we're talking about the same thing. Or is it impossible to demonstrate this here on the forum?

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Answer 11

mermurmed273 Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 13, 2026 12:43 AM in response to Zurarczurx

As I understand it, the problem is not in my settings, because then I would not have observed the same behavior on the showcase samples of MacBooks in the store.

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