As someone who loves digging into the pre-released software to unravel the hidden gems, testing macOS Tahoe beta has been a pleasing experience. Whether it’s exploring the liquid glass design, fine-tuning the fully customizable Control Center, or exploring the adrenaline-pumping games in the all-new Games app, Tahoe has a lot to offer. Especially if you don’t mind encountering the unexpected bugs (just like me).
As with any early beta, users are running into a variety of bugs, performance issues, and usability quirks that can interfere with daily work. From UI glitches to system crashing to sudden freezing, Beta 2 is still very much a work in progress.
In this article, I’ve jotted down the 10 most common and frustrating issues in macOS Tahoe Beta 2, along with reliable solutions or workarounds. So, if your Mac is daily driving the latest Tahoe beta, be sure to keep track of these issues and try out the viable ways to take control of the villains so that your beta testing experience doesn’t become a living nightmare.
1. Blurry Control Center and Menu Bar
Many users report that the Control Center and menu bar appear overly frosted or blurry, making icons hard to distinguish.
- On your Mac, head over to System Settings > Accessibility > Display.
- Enable Reduce Transparency to minimize the blur effect and improve visibility.
This setting reduces glass-like effects across the UI, offering clearer visuals without sacrificing design.
2. Battery Draining Rapidly on MacBooks
Several users have noticed a significant drop in battery performance after installing the beta.
- On your macOS device, navigate to System Settings > Battery > Take a close look at the battery usage to identify energy-hogging apps.
- Make sure to close all the unused tabs in Safari.
- Use Low Power Mode (System Settings > Battery) for additional battery savings when unplugged.
- Additionally, I’d also recommend you turn off the app background activity of the redundant apps to preserve as much power as possible.
Beta builds often contain inefficient background processes that can be managed to extend battery life.
3. External Monitors Not Detected
Some users report macOS Tahoe Beta 2 fails to recognize external displays after sleep or reboot.
- Disconnect and reconnect the monitor.
- Go to System Settings > Displays. After that, hold down the Option key to show up the Detect Displays button. Clicking this button will help prompt your Mac to search for any connected external displays.
- If the issue persists, restart the Mac with the external monitor plugged in.
Display detection bugs are common in beta builds but are usually resolved with resets or cable re-seating.
4. Finder Freezing or Crashing Randomly
Users have encountered occasional Finder crashes or unresponsive behavior while browsing files.
- Force quit Finder by right-clicking its Dock icon and selecting Relaunch.
- Clear Finder preferences by deleting the file:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist - Reboot your system after making changes.
Finder bugs are typically caused by corrupted preference files or memory leaks in early betas.
5. Widgets Freezing or Not Loading on Desktop
Desktop widgets are a highlight of macOS Tahoe, but in Beta 2 they sometimes fail to load or update.
- Remove the affected widget and re-add it via the Edit Widgets menu.
- Make sure App Background Activity is enabled (under System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions) for all the problematic widget apps.
- Reboot if the widget doesn’t respond after a reset.
Widget instability is a known issue in early builds as developers optimize third-party support.
6. Mission Control Animation Stutters
The smooth animation between desktops and app windows is often laggy or jerky in Beta 2.
- Disable Reduce Motion if it’s enabled under Accessibility > Motion.
- Close unused apps to free up memory and GPU resources.
- Use Activity Monitor to check for processes using excessive CPU or GPU.
Performance hiccups are normal in betas but can often be mitigated by reducing visual effects.
7. Stage Manager Glitches
Stage Manager sometimes misplaces windows or causes UI flickering during app switching.
- Toggle Stage Manager off and back on under Control Center > Stage Manager.
- Avoid using it with apps not yet optimized for the new macOS version.
- Reboot your system to reset the window layout.
This feature is still under development and prone to inconsistencies in early versions.
8. Slow Spotlight Search Results
Spotlight appears sluggish or fails to show results, even for recently used files or apps.
- On your macOS device, fire up the System Settings > Spotlight and disable unused search categories.
- Rebuild the Spotlight index by typing this command in Terminal:
sudo mdutil -E / - Wait for the indexing process to complete.
Spotlight performance usually improves after the initial indexing is completed or rebuilt.
9. Bluetooth Devices Randomly Disconnecting
Users have reported that their Magic Mouse, keyboard, or AirPods disconnect intermittently.
- Navigate to System Settings > Bluetooth and remove then re-pair the device.
- Reset the Bluetooth module by holding Shift + Option, clicking the Bluetooth icon, and selecting Reset Bluetooth Module.
- Ensure the macOS is not aggressively entering sleep mode under Battery settings.
Bluetooth instability is common in beta software and usually resolves in future updates.10. Slow App Launches and Login Delays
After updating, some users find that apps take longer to open or that logging in feels sluggish.
- Go to the System Settings app on your device > General > Login Items & Extensions and remove unnecessary startup processes.
- Clear system cache using tools like CleanMyMac or manually via Terminal (if you’re experienced).
- Reboot your Mac to refresh memory and app preload mechanisms.
Startup and launch delays are often caused by background services or apps incompatible with the beta.
Wrapping up..!
And that’s about it! macOS Tahoe Beta 2 is a promising update, offering visual enhancements and deeper ecosystem features, but it’s still a beta, meaning bugs, instability, and performance quirks are expected.
If you’re an early adopter running into trouble, the solutions above should help you work around the most common issues. Always report bugs through the Feedback Assistant to help Apple iron out these problems before the final release.
And remember—if the bugs interfere with your workflow too much, it’s always a good idea to roll back to a stable macOS version or install the beta on a secondary device.
