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I have a m1 MBP 16-inch with macOS Monterey 12.2. When I switch between spaces using three-finger swipes or control-left/right arrow shortcut, there is a slight but really annoying latency. This latency is not present if I switch again when the last movement has not stopped, or if I switch between apps in different spaces using command-tab.

This behavior is not present in a new user account. I have tried resetting Dock (defaults delete com.apple.dock) but that has no affects on this behavior. How can I troubleshoot this problem?

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  • Compare the difference in speed between ctrl/right arrow & ctrl/1 [assuming you have default key commands set up] Do you see the same difference, or is your swipe even slower than the arrow? Ctrl/num should be about twice as fast as ctrl/arrow.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Mar 11, 2022 at 7:50
  • @Tetsujin ctrl+1 does not have the lag and is twice as fast.
    – Joy Jin
    Commented Mar 11, 2022 at 10:18
  • Probably not ;) So 3-finger swipe is the same speed as Ctrl/arrow? If so, then it's behaving as expected.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Mar 11, 2022 at 10:34
  • @ Tetsujin I think I find the culprit. When I only have 2 spaces open, there is no lag. But when there is many open (Chrome windows), there is a lag. The lag seems to decrease when I begin exit-fullscreen these windows and eventually disappear. The lag reappears and increases when I continue to open new windows in Chrome in full-screen mode. Is this a bug or a feature?
    – Joy Jin
    Commented Mar 11, 2022 at 23:46
  • I'd probably just blame the known resource-hog that is Chrome for that. Personally, I refuse to use it because of how much drag it has on everything else.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Mar 12, 2022 at 8:41

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I tried the Accent Colour to no avail. The general consensus for this appears to be ProMotion slowing the animation. In System Settings -> Displays -> Refresh Rate change ProMotion to 60 Hz.

Fixed it for me. It's a shame however because ProMotion will save battery life. Kind of ironic when you read the last point in Apple's PR!

ProMotion automatically varies the refresh rate to match the motion of a user's onscreen content to help preserve battery life, and makes tasks more fluid and even more responsive

Oddly, App switching with Command-Tab does not present the issue; only the touch pad swipe and Ctrl-Arrow.

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  • fixed it for me too! thank you so much
    – Fed
    Commented Oct 13, 2023 at 9:43
  • It improved the issue for me as well, the funny thing is that I experience the issue on a 4K 60 Hz external display.
    – Carlo
    Commented Nov 22 at 12:36
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Been living (grumpily) with laggy switching between spaces for months and trying to find a solution. Lag was intrusive with 3-fingered swipe and also with Ctrl-Arrow. Stumbled across this solution this morning: change the Accent Colour in Preferences/General from Multicolour to Graphite. Snappy space-switching has resumed for me!

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