Figma slow on M3 MacBook Air after macOS Tahoe update

Hello, same issue here : Figma is very very laggy (almost unusable) on my MB Air M3 since Tahoe update. I’m using an external monitor and I have not tried without it yet.  
Hope we’ll have a fix soon!

M4 MB Air after the update is laggy too. I’m almost sure the issue appears when using an external monitor. My is 4k and runs downscaled at 2560x1440. Replugging happens to solve it, but the problem may come back.

At this moment, for sure, web browser Figma is an issue-free alternative.

Same here, desktop app took a performance dive after updating to Tahoe, and most of my GPU cores (32) are used when working on a file.

I’m also having this issue, there’s a slight delay with every action in Figma ever since I upgraded.

Update: After several tests, I've discovered the issue is related to my External Monitor and MacOS UI scaling options (see attached images).

I typically use option "2" for my 27" 4K monitor because the UI otherwise appears either too large or too small. However, MacOS warns that "using a scaled resolution may affect performance," and indeed, Figma lags when using this setting. Switching to full resolution (option "3") or Default "1" makes Figma much more responsive.

In "Default" mode, everything in MacOS appears larger than I'd like, but at least Figma runs almost smoothly.

FYI, the MacOS resolution list is somewhat misleading. If your screen is 4K, the image remains 4K regardless of which "resolution" setting you select—these options only control UI scaling. So even though settings below "Default" show dimensions like 1080x1920, your 4K screen still displays at full resolution.

If you try this solution, please let me know how it works for you!

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Hi there,

I’ve experienced a similar issue. I upgraded to macOS Tahoe on the day of its release (MacBook Pro M1 Pro with 32 GB, 2021). After the update, Figma became extremely sluggish and nearly unusable. The performance drop was quite significant.

Interestingly, I’ve noticed that using Figma in a browser like Dia or Arc slightly improves the performance overall, but it’s still problematic.

FYI, I’ve observed the same issue with Dia, or more broadly, with Chromium browsers that are still not fully optimized for this new version.

Hi everyone - thank you all for taking the time to report your experiences. Our engineering team, with the help of our Technical Quality support team, have been collecting information to determine what causes performance to decline. 

I do see 2 common factors:

• The Tahoe update seems to cause issues across everyone here
• Some of you are also noticing issues when there are external monitor[s] being used.

This is definitely something I think needs detailed review. Can everyone here fill out this specific form? Your report will go directly to our Technical Quality support team, who will then take over the investigation from there.

Thank you again so much for surfacing this. I’ll also make sure to bring it up internally with engineering for broader visibility as well.

Hi @ksn,

Thanks for the follow-up. I’ll fill out the form right away!

In the meantime, I stumbled upon something very interesting on Twitter about the performance issues on Tahoe. Someone suggested disabling an experimental flag in Chrome/Chromium browsers (Experimental prediction for scroll events) that might cause significant lags and slowdowns.
 

I decided to try it out and restarted my browser. After that, the performance completely returned to normal on the browser (Dia), and surprisingly, the lag issues completely disappeared from the Figma app as well!
 

It seems like there might be a connection between this experimental flag and the performance issues. I hope this helps the engineering teams.

Thanks again for your support!

​@Marouane_Dekkaki OHHHH great find. Thank you for passing this along to me -- I found your support ticket, so I’ll highlight your reply in it for Tech Quality when I escalate it.

​@ksn I submitted a form but myself and other Mercury designers are seeing this issue with macOS Tahoe. The @patrickc Twitter patch and screen sharing from Chrome-based browser resolves this issue for me. I hope this helps the Figma team develop a performance patch for the native app.

SUPER HELPFUL!! Thank you all so much.Any other details you pick up on, they are welcome so I can keep passing them on 🙏🏻

Dropping a quick update:

Our engineering team has opened an investigation and looking into this -- I don’t have specifics just yet, but it’s being worked on!

The issue is not Figma, it is Electron.

Due to Electron’s usage of Apple’s private AppKit API on macOS Tahoe (https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/48311), Figma (as any other Electron app) consumes all available GPU.  

Please update Figma’s Electron to the fixed version (v39.0.0-alpha.7, v38.2.0, v37.6.0, v36.9.2).

That’s exactly the issue and it happens with all Electron apps on macOS Tahoe.

I’ve switched back to using Figma through Firefox, which works fine for now until there’s a fix for the app. Currently, the app is so slow it’s difficult to even drag frames into the right position.

It’s not a hardware problem. It’s a software issue.

Update for everyone: 

First, thanks again for continuing the conversation alive with this. I just spoke with our engineering team, and there’s been a resolution pushed out to address this.

Can you all try to download the app from this link directly, and then confirm that performance has improved? https://desktop.figma.com/mac/build/FigmaInstaller-125.8.9.dmg

it seemed like noticeable improvement for me at first, but then the lag started appearing again after a while. i’m on a 15” macbook air (M4, 24 GB unified memory).

worth noting i am also on a zoom call and figma has been running fine as long as i’m not also on zoom at the same time (even when i’m not screen sharing).

Got it - thanks ​@Darrin_Lin2 

I just forwarded your response over to the team that worked on the original fix. Discussions are ongoing, and I’ll update again when I hear more.

​@ksn I have a MacBook Air M2 running macOS 15.7.1. A few days ago, I updated Figma to version 125.8.9, but I’m still experiencing exactly the same issues that other users have already reported.

Hey ​@Guilherme Magnus (and all) - I know this is still being worked on, but I don’t have any update at this time.

There were small adjustments that were made, and it seems to help some, but not all unfortunately. We’re all still trying to find a fully solution, and thank you for your patience in the meantime.

It’s been a real nightmare working with Figma files since I updated macOS to Tahoe.

In my file structure, I have a library containing elements used across other files. A few days after updating to Tahoe, the library file appeared fine, with all components intact. However, after publishing a single modification, the other file started resizing numerous elements—mostly icons and images—across multiple screens. Strangely, this included elements I hadn’t even modified.
 

I’ve run several experiments, but the issue persists:

• I switched from the desktop app to the browser version.
• I reverted the file history to a point before the Tahoe update, but as soon as I reopened the working file, it prompted a library update and the elements were misaligned again.
• The only workaround so far is detaching the elements and editing them manually, but this defeats one of Figma’s core advantages: updating repeated elements across screens in one go.
• In the library, the elements appear correctly, but when I copy and paste them into the dependent file, they show up incorrectly.

I’ve already lost four days trying to find a solution.