Tell HN: macOS 26 is making me have regrets for the first time in 12yrs

trumbitta2 · 2025-10-27T09:20:41.000Z

Sorry, I'm basically venting, but I'm sincerely curious to know what you think of this.In 1998 (97?) I installed Debian 2.0 for the first time, and I had been a Linux user, both at work and for personal purposes, up until 2013. I was so fed up (because I was older) with the hardware issues (external monitors, graphics, drivers) that I switched to Mac and never looked back.Up until now. I dislike the UI, and I'm frustrated by having to wait 15 seconds every time I want to unlock the system after a break. It's starting to feel like old-time Linux all over again.

codemusings 200 days ago |

I saw beta screenshots of what used to be the toolbar (e.g. in Finder) and immediately disabled auto-update on my Mac. Seeing how many bugs have also been introduced (not just visual glitches) pretty much reaffirmed me in my decision.

However the downside is I can't try some new app releases like Daft Music[1] because it has become to burdensome to maintain two different designs. Especially in SwiftUI.

[1] https://daftmusic.app

qsort 202 days ago |

It's not a great release and there are indeed a few bugs, but it's kind of okay. There's a lot of good stuff like container support!

I don't know, but it seems to me like people are overreacting? Do y'all really care that much about how the desktop looks? It doesn't seem that different to me if I'm being honest. That's probably why they don't let me do frontend...

worldsavior 201 days ago | |

I think if anyone cares about desktop looks should go to Windows, where you can customize your desktop in many ways (not necessarily officially).

jjice 201 days ago | | |

If that's what someone is looking for in particular, I'd lean Linux. I've found linux desktop customization is so much more flexible than Windows.

That said, I don't have much experience in that area on Linux or Windows anymore

worldsavior 201 days ago | | |

There isn't really "it just works" in Linux. Linux is of course more flexible.

sporedro 199 days ago | | |

If you’re trying to customize windows, there’s really nothing that “just works” there either. I’ve found default Ubuntu installs to “just work” better than default windows 11 as well.

schappim 199 days ago | |

> indeed a few bugs

This is a perfect use of understatement.

longgamma 201 days ago |

Debian 13 has way better hardware support than Windows and Mac out of the box. Also I prefer Gnome to macos and whatever design they did after Big Sur. The only real advantage mac has is the superior build quality and awesome speakers for a laptop

dc396 202 days ago |

Never experienced the 15 second wait for an unlock myself -- sounds like something has to time out for you before unlocking, e.g., some network thing.

As for the UI, meh -- I suppose it's personal taste. I could take it or leave it, but I wish they'd focus on substance over form, i.e., addressing bugs and fixing functionality (e.g., Mail's search remains useless, particularly compared to something like infoclick) instead of gratuitous appearance changes that no one asks for.

But form over substance seems the norm in our industry (see e.g., Windows 11)

al_borland 202 days ago |

Big changes have always been a little rocky. Over time I expect they will refine it and work out the bugs. We’ve been through this before, and every OS goes through things like this from time to time.

NeuroCoder 202 days ago |

I've noticed some things running slower too, but I wasn't sure if my computer was getting older. As for the interface/asthetic, it's pretty terrible in every regard.

bfkwlfkjf 202 days ago |

Those who exchange freedom for convenience deserve neither.

worldsavior 201 days ago | |

Macbooks have great hardware. Most people that buy Macbooks buy them because of the hardware.

carlosjobim 200 days ago | | |

Watching people who switch from PC to Mac, they are amazed by how good the software is. Sure, they love the hardware also. But just opening the lid to instantly start your laptop is like magic. That feature alone constitutes more than 50% of the computer user experience for most people.

bfkwlfkjf 201 days ago | | |

Those who exchange freedom for hardware deserve neither.

scaredreally 201 days ago |

Thanks for the warning. I held off on the update for fear that it would break development tooling, but had considered upgrading.

chatmasta 201 days ago |

I always assumed any 15 seconds unlock was decrypting the filesystem... is that not the case?

trumbitta2 199 days ago | |

It could be. But nothing on my end changed from before the update.

nik736 201 days ago |

The most annoying thing for me currently is that when connecting to local smb shares with Finder and adding favorites (directories on shares), after a reboot they are still there under favorites, but it won't connect to them when clicking on them. So I have to manually reconnect to the server every time. This wasn't happening before.

Other than that, of course some things got slower, but overall it's an OK release. For example he new system settings were bad before, now they got a bit worse, but macOS 26 didn't introduce those changes.

selectnull 203 days ago |

As someone who hasn't upgraded yet, what is causing the 15s wait after a locked system? That sounds terrible.

trumbitta2 203 days ago | |

I wish I knew!

trumbitta2 202 days ago | | |

Guys, the cause is the new OS. It wasn't happening 1hr before it started happening with the new OS, it never happened before.

runjake 201 days ago | | |

The cause is probably related to the new OS, but I don't have that same wait on my multiple Tahoe systems, so it's not just because: Tahoe.

If you're a Linux user, or were a Linux user, check the logs, close programs, uncheck login items 1 by 1, run "launchctl list", etc to identify the specific cause.

boars_tiffs 202 days ago | | |

not ideal but: try a clean install

Someone 202 days ago | | |

Way before that:

- check the logs. There may be an obvious hint there as to the cause

- quit all programs, menu bar items, launchd scripts, etc, and check whether the problem persists

- create a new user and see if that user has the problem, too