macOS 27 Mission Control freezes for ~1 second when switching Spaces, animation is missing

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Level 1

10 points

macOS 27 Mission Control freezes for ~1 second when switching Spaces, animation is missing

Hi everyone,

After updating to macOS 27.0 (Build 26A428), Mission Control/Spaces has become noticeably laggy on my MacBook Pro.

When I swipe up with three fingers to open Mission Control and click another Desktop Space or full-screen application at the top, the screen freezes for approximately 1 second and then immediately switches to the selected Space.

The normal Space transition animation is completely missing/skipped. It feels like macOS freezes for a moment and then simply "teleports" to the next Space.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Swipe up with three fingers to open Mission Control.

2. Click another Desktop Space/full-screen application.

3. Observe the transition.

Expected:

A smooth animated transition between Spaces.

Actual:

~1 second freeze/frame → instant switch → no transition animation.

I'm running:

MacBook Pro M5

macOS 27.0

Build 26A428

I've already restarted the Mac, restarted Dock, and checked Reduce Motion/animation settings. The issue persists.

Is anyone else experiencing this on macOS 27?

Posted on Sep 15, 2026 9:49 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

neuroanatomist

Level 9

66,525 points

Sep 15, 2026 10:12 AM in response to gifanaprd

The behavior that I observe on macOS 27 is the same as on macOS 26. Three-finger swipe up, click on another Space, and the other Space immediately opens with a 'zoom into then out from top-center' animation.

It may be system specific, I have Golden Gate running on a 16" M4 Pro MBP, and I see the 'normal' behavior as I describe on both the internal display and when running in clamshell mode.

See if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode. That process performs some system cleanup and clears caches, and also disables 3rd party extensions that may cause problems.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

If that does not correct the issue, test in a new user account. A newly-created user account will have all settings at default, and if the issue does not occur in that new account then it provides guidance on what may need to be changed to correct the issue.

Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support

Once the testing is complete, the new account can easily be deleted.

Delete a user or group on Mac – Apple Support

Those steps will help to isolate the problem.

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Answer 2

Sep 17, 2026 1:49 PM in response to TimothyQuinlan

TimothyQuinlan wrote:

Mine does the exact same thing. It seems to be pausing to show desktop widgets (you see them in the top left corner) but as far as I know I have never used a desktop widget. Is there a setting somewhere to get rid of those?

With Sequoia, macOS turned on three Widgets by default. You can hide them in System Settings > Desktop & Dock by unchecking the Show boxes, but the Widgets will still be there.

To actually remove them, first tick the box to show them, then secondary click on each widget and select Remove Widget, or just click anywhere on the Desktop and select Edit Widgets then click the (–) button at the upper left corner of each Widget.

More info: Add and customise widgets on Mac – Apple Support

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Answer 3

Sep 15, 2026 9:56 AM in response to gifanaprd

Definitely submit your feedback to Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

Note that macOS 27 may not yet be available in the drop-down menu in Feedback. Select macOS 26 if it's not and just explain it in the body of the feedback.

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Answer 4

Doggles

Level 1

8 points

Sep 24, 2026 1:10 AM in response to gifanaprd

I've had this ever since I got my M5 Pro. Frustrating as I use separate desktops for different Adobe apps. Normally restarting finder helps but sometimes a full restart is needed. Was hoping the MacOS update would remedy it but its only made it worse.

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Answer 5

gifanaprd Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 15, 2026 8:22 PM in response to neuroanatomist

Thanks for the suggestions. I have already tested Safe Mode and a new user account, but unfortunately the issue persists in both cases.

The Space switching itself works correctly, but there is a noticeable ~1 second freeze/frame drop before the Space opens, and the normal zoom-in/zoom-out transition animation is skipped.

So far, the issue appears to persist regardless of user settings or third-party extensions.

Since you are seeing the normal animation on your 16" M4 Pro, it may be specific to certain Mac models, configurations, or the particular macOS 27 build.

Thanks for confirming that the normal behavior still works on your system.

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Answer 6

Sep 21, 2026 7:14 AM in response to tyskey

tyskey wrote:

I'm experiencing exactly the same symptoms on my M5 MacBook Air. This is causing me a lot of trouble and my productivity has dropped significantly. I'm really struggling and I'd like this to be fixed as soon as possible.

Have you reported the issue to Apple?

Product Feedback - Apple

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Answer 7

gifanaprd Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 16, 2026 9:47 AM in response to aayushman210

Thanks for confirming! I’m seeing the exact same behavior on my MacBook Pro M5 after upgrading to macOS Golden Gate 27.

The Space switching itself works, but there’s a noticeable ~1 second freeze/frame drop before switching, and the normal transition animation is skipped.

I’ve already submitted a report through Apple Feedback Assistant as well. Hopefully this gets enough reports for Apple to investigate it in a future update.

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Answer 8

Sep 17, 2026 4:21 AM in response to gifanaprd

I have observed the same on my 14" M5 Pro MBP, started happening just after updating to macOS Version 27.0 (26A428) Golden Gate. The delay when switching to a Desktop is very noticeable from Mission Control...

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Answer 9

Sep 17, 2026 12:57 PM in response to aayushman210

Mine does the exact same thing. It seems to be pausing to show desktop widgets (you see them in the top left corner) but as far as I know I have never used a desktop widget. Is there a setting somewhere to get rid of those?

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Answer 10

RadonBy

Level 1

14 points

Sep 16, 2026 9:58 AM in response to gifanaprd

I have the same issue. After upgrading to macOS 27, Mission Control always freezes for about a second when switching between windows.

Also, during the switch, just before the target window appears, the screen sometimes briefly flickers and a window from another workspace is shown for around 100 ms.

M4 Pro 16"

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Answer 11

Sep 17, 2026 1:56 AM in response to gifanaprd

i have macbook pro M1 pro and i had the same problem too, when i open mission control is seems laggy and i usually work with extended monitor isn't not good when i move the cursor to another display is seems laggy too, and when i drag and drop some application in my monitor to the extended monitor is not smooth as on macos 26

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Answer 12

Sep 17, 2026 2:03 PM in response to neuroanatomist

Yes I did this, and the problem persists. Even with zero widgets it happens, it will momentarily flash all of the desktop items instead before switching apps. And I tested having show desktop items in stage manager on and off and it still persists

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Answer 13

dermadoc

Level 1

18 points

Sep 17, 2026 2:26 PM in response to gifanaprd

same and worse! My macbook pro m4 base model really slowed down after golden gate 27.0 update. The smooth experience I previously had is now gone! I tried to contact apple support, they suggested to wait for few days but now 2 days have been past without any improvement. safari ui is constantly hiding the top side of the page, apps on the doc don't start, app changes are clunky and even going to the desktop is hard from mission control, clicking to an empty area doesn't work anymore...

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Answer 14

tyskey

Level 1

115 points

Sep 18, 2026 2:12 AM in response to gifanaprd

I'm experiencing exactly the same symptoms on my M5 MacBook Air. This is causing me a lot of trouble and my productivity has dropped significantly. I'm really struggling and I'd like this to be fixed as soon as possible.

Reply

Answer 15

Sep 22, 2026 12:39 PM in response to gifanaprd

I've the same problem. In my case, the zoom in and zoom out animation plays correctly, but as you say, with a noticeable delay. And also I feel the "App" laggy (I mean the window where you can see every app you have), like it's not as fluent as it was.

I'm using a macbook air M4 with MacOS 27.0

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