Track which Electron apps slow down macOS 26 Tahoe

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Nature of the Tahoe–Electron performance bug

  • The slowdown is tied to Electron’s override of a private, undocumented macOS API related to window corner masking.
  • The override was essentially a “dirty hack” for cosmetic corner smoothing and broke when macOS 26 changed behavior.
  • The issue is already fixed upstream in Electron; the main problem now is vendors not yet updating their bundled Electron versions.
  • Some very old Electron apps avoid the bug simply because their version predates the problematic change, but commenters note this carries significant security risk.

Tracking and affected applications

  • The shamelectron site and related scripts help users detect locally installed Electron apps that still ship unfixed versions.
  • Commenters list many popular apps as affected, especially password managers and productivity tools (e.g., 1Password 8 and other Electron-based managers), as well as tools like Docker, Notion, and various developer apps.
  • Some apps (e.g., Podman Desktop) have already updated and are reported fixed.

Electron vs native / web apps

  • Many criticize the prevalence of Electron on macOS, calling it wasteful (duplicated runtimes, high RAM usage) and “half‑baked” compared with native apps.
  • Others defend Electron, pointing to VS Code as an example of excellent software and emphasizing its superior developer experience and stable, self-controlled browser engine.
  • Several users prefer using Safari’s web app feature or plain browser tabs over “native” Electron clients (e.g., for Discord, Zoom).
  • Tauri is briefly mentioned; no issues on Tahoe are reported there.

Disk, RAM, and shared libraries

  • There’s debate over Electron’s per‑app runtime duplication: some see ~4+ GiB of redundant installs as “insanity,” others argue memory and storage are cheap and shared libraries are a bigger maintenance nightmare.
  • A few suggest Nix-like, versioned shared runtimes as a middle ground; others insist shared libs have repeatedly failed in practice.

Responsibility: Apple vs app vendors

  • One camp argues any app being able to slow the whole OS is fundamentally an OS design failure.
  • Others counter that Electron knowingly used clearly private APIs, so vendors bear primary blame.
  • Comparisons are drawn to Windows’ strong backward-compatibility culture; some say Apple tolerates more breakage across releases.

Broader Tahoe and Apple ecosystem concerns

  • Multiple commenters report Tahoe feeling rough overall: broken UI elements (menu bar, keypress popups), Zoom-related bugs, and higher memory use on 8 GB machines.
  • Some recommend delaying major macOS upgrades until at least the .1 release; others prioritize security updates and upgrade early.
  • There is broad frustration with Apple’s QA, Feedback Assistant, and perceived focus on branding over robustness.
  • SwiftUI and WinUI are criticized as immature or painful, with several arguing these shortcomings are a major driver pushing developers toward Electron despite its downsides.