After updating to Mac OS Tahoe sometimes I get a slight flickering for 1-2 minutes. I use an Macbook Air M3 and I am connected to an external monitor using a Type C - Display Port cable. Before the update I didn't have any of these problems.
Did someone had this problem?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.0
I have a similar setup:
Mac Mini M4 Pro with a Dell monitor.
I'd like to share how I fixed the flickering issue.
The flickering is acknowledged by Dell and other vendors like BenQ—even with newer monitors—as something they cannot resolve on their end.
The root cause is Apple's display controller, which applies temporal dithering by default to simulate smoother gradients, even on high-quality monitors. This causes not only discomfort for sensitive users but also severe flickering in some setups, leading to eye strain and usability issues. macOS offers no built-in way to disable it permanently. That would be very nice if Apple would implement this feature.
The solution:
To disable dithering permanently on a Mac Mini M4, you can use a tool like Stillcolor to override the display controller's default behavior and set it to launch at login. Without third-party tools, macOS does not offer a built-in method to persistently disable dithering across reboots.
I have installed the tool with brew. Have a good day.
[Edited by Moderator]
Same here on Apple Studio M4Max, Contacts App looks horrible, my screen looks like the backlight is falling apart. Only it isn't. It is a bug only happening after Tahoe upgrade.
Same issue on my Maccbook Pro M4. The issue is on my Macbook Screen itself and it only happens when the fans are at full blast.
same problem on my M3 MacBook Pro, M4 Mac Studio, and M1 Mac mini... just in the contacts app.
Installed Stillcolor and set but got flickering again so I lowered refresh rate to 50 fps in the hope that will help. We'll see...
Thank you section77 for your explanation. It sheds a new light on the cause of the issue and explains why most likely not the hardware is the cause of the flickering, but the Tahoe update, making a lot of monitors flickern after updating to Tahoe. It would be nice if a list of compatible monitors would show up. To be honest I was already in the process of looking out for a new monitor to make use of the better refresh rates this Apple Studio offers. But I will hold that of for now until this issue will be resolved. I am reading more and more reports. So something has to be done.
Anyone experiencing this on the internal display?
I have sometimes flickering on my M3 Air when a new windows is being displayed, and it goes away after a few seconds.
Trying section77's tip with Stilcolor, will report back.
I've exactly this issue after updated macOS Tahoe 26.0.1 and I'm using Mac Studio with the Studio Display, it's quite obvious with that flashing and flickers. I've tried pretty much everything I can natively without using any third-party hardwares nor softwares currently. If anyone has a solution for this, I'm happy to learn about it. Thank you and have a good day!
I was not the only one with this problem I guess.
I thought it was a hardware problem.
I took it to genius bar and they changed the screen and lid sensors.
It was fine for a day, then got worse, took it back to them, and they said nothing is wrong.
Well, it’s still flickering, so Apple developers should do something about it.
Update to my October 22 post where I reported no more flickering after a macOS update. Sadly, the flickering has returned. I was away for a week with the MBP and so it was disconnected from the display. Upon returning home and plugging back in, it has started flickering again.
I don't know if it's the same problem but since updating on Macmini M2 Pro to Tahoe I get my open windows (hardrive, folder etc...) jumping whenever audio starts. For example when I open a youtube channel and start it suddenly any folder or drive i have open on the desktop the text and icons are jumping. small jumps but annoying. For a while I thought it was my age catching up but then I tested it and sure enough it happens. I thought it might be my large screen Samsung's speakers causing the jumps so I test it with earphone both hardwired and bluetooth and it still does it. Did not do it before Tahoe. I don't what the fix would be or if it is what you guys are talking about but it is annoying on my eyes. I have a video demo but Apple does not allow uploading videos here.
Similar issue — I work with a Studio Display, that is connected to a (closed) Macbook Pro M4. Good thing I'm not epileptic, all though I'm on the brink of having a stroke by this bug. Please come up with an update @Apple
i have a m1 air and it also has same issue
I am also facing this on my macbook m1 pro 14.
Too add on i am not using an external monitor, i am talking about the actual MacBook display itself!
With so many people confirming the flickering and even reports why the flickering occurs I do not understand you blaming the cables. This is not very helpful in resolving the undeniable issue.
Screen flickering after updating to Mac OS Tahoe
