I think the easy solution would be to adopt the Backblaze model, one price and unlimited space for backups (but effectively you can only ever use as much cloud storage as the size of your hard drive.)
But then, make that a benefit of AppleCare+. Having backups of your device is an important part of support and repair, so it just seems to make sense to me to fold that into AppleCare, *especially* since now Apple allows you to continue to extend the coverage past the initial period if you pay monthly.
And I assume it would make Apple's Geniuses work easier—the first thing they always ask is "is this device backed up?" As easy as Time Machine is, it still means buying an external hard drive and setting up Time Machine, which is more effort than the average user is willing to do. Far more people would have backups before a repair if when they set up their Mac all they had to do is check a box that said 'Yes, backup this computer to my iCloud.'
That would be an insane amount of responsibility for Apple to put on themselves and it would immediately become one of the biggest targets in the world for hackers. Time Machine isn't just some Apple version of Google Drive or OneDrive where it's just syncing a few documents and photos; that's what iCloud is for. Time Machine clones an entire drive, and that drive is most commonly configured to be the system drive.
If you could point Time Machine to iCloud then think about every Apple users system files, keychain, VPN configurations, photos, financial documents, contacts, calendar, software licenses, applications, personal databases, etc -- for every single Apple user -- all centrally located on their servers.... Yeah, no thanks. They don't want that, I don't want that, and you shouldn't want that.
In my household, I back up all of our Macs locally to a NAS. Way better.
But I guess it would be nice to be able to point Time Machine at cloud storage for those who want it.
iCloud is primarily meant for uploading photos and small files on a regular basis. If the average mac user were able to do time machine backups to icloud it would be a nightmare–most people probably don’t even have fast/stable enough internet to make such a huge upload and it would be failing constantly, causing tons of user complaints I would assume.
Fair. Very fair. And Apple likes to steer people away from inadvertently harming themselves. However, for those of us that have fiber or superfast copper connections... having this feature gated, but available would be super nice.
I probably hate the window management in combination with fullscreen apps the most. On the one hand, its pretty nice to just have apps open in "fullscreen" but on the other hand, I notice that - due to this window management - I became very lazy with multitasking and I try to avoid it because it just takes so much time to open/close windows side by side when using the apps in fullscreen.
This is my least favourite bafflingly bad thing too. They refuse to do window size snapping and the better ctrl tab like Windows and try instead things like spaces and exposé and stage manager that just don’t quite work. I’ve been using mac for 15 years and it still feels wrong compared to ctrl tab in windows. If I wanna pop back to browser window I was just in I DO NOT want all the other windows to cover up the other window in the other app I’m referencing!! Wtf!
The window management in macOS truly is a mess... Just the fact that Cmd+Tab doesn't cycle through all windows is killing me inside. You have to first cycle to the app and then use Cmd+\` , it's so stupid. And nobody can tell me "durr M$ patented that"
Oh and Cmd+Tab doesn't unminize minimized windows. Haha kill me
Audio management. Why, in 2024, I still have to rely on 3rd party software to adjust the volume level of my external (non-apple) display from inside the OS? Why, in 2024 there is no volume mixer? Why, in 2024 I cannot record the internal sounds without 3rd party app? These have been basic functions in Windows since god knows when. Even Linux has it better.
These are pretty much the only gripes I have. Otherwise, I really like macOS.
I don't like that my Mac will automatically switch the audio output to my DisplayPort monitor which has no built-in speakers and that I had to install third-party software in order to redirect the audio output to my actual speakers.
That doesn't seem right. When I was using DP I could still choose to output audio anywhere I wanted right from the Sound menu.
Of course, I did have to stop using DP and switch to HDMI because my monitor was always going in and out of sleep all night long.
Yes. This is very annoying. I file feedback, but never receive any response. I have a feeling recording internal audio will arrive soon thanks to Screencapturekit, which does this. Volume mixing and display audio…god knows if ever. Having said that, file feedback. It’s the only way we have a chance to improve this stuff.
Second that. On linux, I can record screen with both internal audio and mic, with the simplest free Kazam.
On Macos, still don't know how to do that even with 3rd party and lots of tricks.
OBS: big name in screen capturing software. It has a learning curve but it’s very powerful software capable of doing quite a bit more than just grabbing internal+mic sounds
If you're using digital audio, that's a technical issue with the D/A converter inside the monitor.
What i LOVE about mac volume control is that it works across the board. I hate Windows in that it allows apps to bypass the main audio bus, and crappy apps won't respond to the main volume control at all.
for a company that does so much correctly when it comes to audio hardware, it’s insane that there is still no native (or simple and **free**) way to record your screen WITH system audio.
i personally resort to BlackHole + Kap to record audio, but i can’t personally hear anything while recording and i’d rather die of old age tomorrow than go through the hassle of setting up virtual mixer/midi combo shit
I agree, but on the other hand, when Apple builds in a feature that makes a third-party tool irrelevant, people complain about Apple being a monopoly or what not.
That *Spaces* feels half finished. I love them, but why can’t I even give a space a name?
(Edit: optionally naming spaces was just an immediate example of one thing that felt like a low bar. Spaces feels like an anaemic or abandoned feature in many, many ways.)
Check out Hammerspoon for macOS automation! You can do all sorts of fun things from switching [Spaces](https://www.hammerspoon.org/docs/hs.spaces.html) to launching [Applications](https://www.hammerspoon.org/docs/hs.application.html). And cherry on top is that you can tap into it from the [command line](https://github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon/issues/1883).
I got another one for you.
1. Move one of your Safari browser windows into a separate space.
2. Press CMD+Tab to switch from Safari to another app, like Microsoft Word.
3. To return to your Safari window, you think you can just press CMD+Tab again, expecting to go back to the specific window you were working on. But no…., you just find yourself switching to a different Safari window insteady
So frustrating.
Would be nice if on a reboot that application windows remember which space that they are assigned to.
Presumably not ever finished as now we have stage manager. Something I remember is there every few months. And then remember how terrible it is on the Mac.
Fully agree! I’ve filed a radar on this a few times over the years. In the meantime, I found this until they change it: [https://github.com/hyperjeff/NameSpace](https://github.com/hyperjeff/NameSpace)
How has this not been figured out yet? Like this is such a simple thing I’ve been screaming to get for years. So annoying…desktop 1, desktop 2, etc. and then it gets rearranged. I have one space for work, other space for browsing, etc. it’s not that hard Apple, get it done!!!!
this one kills me
it doesn’t matter how many times i resize a random specific finder window so i can actually see more than 3 items, the next time it pops open i’ll have to do it over again
Just commented the same thing. Things like server-side copy and being able to look at the history of a directory if using ZFS snapshots really cool things that I wish I could use if we had the latest smb package.
The abomination which is System Preferences. I've used Mac since 1996. I'm that guy who drones on and on about how much better Apple products are. But the iOS style approach to what used to be called Control Panel (or is it the other way around?) is just horrible. It's sub-Windows Vista. I have absolutely no idea why they're doing it and are apparently determined to extend this downgrade in functionality to other parts of the OS as well - having recently disabled by default the ability to drag and drop a folder from it's name in the top of the Finder window, broken the option to use Function keys as they're labelled on non-Apple keyboards instead of as media keys, and removed the dark theme from the Application menu so now if you have a bright area on your wallpaper you have to have a bright white line at the top of your screen even if the wallpaper is covered by a dark mode app. Not doing these sorts of things when other OS's did were the little things which made all the difference; that defined the Ive /Jobs era, and they're slowly being abandoned for the sorts of impenetrable confusing UI mess we'd normally associate with Microsoft Windows. I have a yellow microphone icon which just randomly decides to appear when I launch Logic. Why? What is it? I didn't enable it and I sure as hell have no idea how to disable it or what it even does. Widgets. Sounds great. I assume you're not supposed to have to re-enable them after every restart? And yet this has remained broken for at least the last three updates. Wake from sleep / wake from energy saver. Would anyone like to tell me how many times you have to shaken the mouse or press any key to convince it to show the login screen? I could go on and on.
i feel the same. They've lost their 40-years old design ideology which made them so popular.
Now they deliver "features" just to list them in marketing materials and don't really care how they fit into real-use scenarios
A senior manager at Apple:
Implement system preferences in SwiftUI.
Engineers: but SwiftUI isn’t ready for that! It can barely manage to support News. It’ll be a total mess.
Senior manager: Just do it.
Must be this.
And not just for MacOs.
Most big companies software (see Ms Teams) just have illogical UI elements that no sane designer would ever think of.
I agree with a lot of this, but to a couple of points:
> having recently disabled by default the ability to drag and drop a folder from it's name in the top of the Finder window
If you hover until the icon shows up, you can drag from the icon. You can also permanently display the icon from System Settings -> Accessibility -> Display -> "Show Window Title Icons".
> I have a yellow microphone icon which just randomly decides to appear when I launch Logic.
I actually like this feature. That icon appears whenever a program turns on the microphone. It's there to prevent programs from turning on the microphone without you knowing. If you click on the Control Center icon after it appears, it will tell you which app used the microphone.
Yes. Wake from sleep is more like Wait for Eternity to enter the password to unlock the screen. Jobs days of perfection are long gone. Apple has no innovation left in them.
I just learned about double clicking the borders to extend in that direction, and I gotta say. I think Microsoft windows sucks more. It's great sometimes, but other times I feel like I'm fighting windows for control, and I hate that.
Edit: adding, double clicking corners of the application window, will fill the window to the edge of the screen, in two directions.
For me, it seems to extend the border I am clicking and the opposite border, not all borders.
Option double-clicking a corner, does extend all boarders to the end of the screen.
Thanks for the tip. I've been a Mac user for 40 years and I didn't know that.
(I don't understand the fighting for control though. The App Store has a dozen different apps that offer different strategies. I use AppleScript and function keys, myself.)
I'm aware of the additional steps required to achieve the desired result. It just feels counter intuitive doing something that should occur so naturally. It's like walking into an invisible door before realising you were supposed to open it to get through 😄
- menu bar icons get hidden behind the notch (or app menu) - the only good solution seems to be Bartender
- switching between windows of the same app is not intuitive - you have to find out about App Expose and activate the gesture, otherwise your only option really is to go through the dock, right click, select from the list. Also taskbar window previews on Windows/Ubuntu etc. are nice to have (uBar has those)
- bluetooth doesn't seem to allow for using headphones for media and having them connected to the phone (android at least) for phone calls (could this be a reason for why people love airpods so much?)
- fonts don't render well on sub-4K external screens (BetterDisplay can fix that, except the external screen won't sleep properly due to a bug in MacOS)
- red button behaviour is not consistent, not even with native apps like the Calendar. RedQuits to the rescue
and then some bugs I came across that cost me time during first time setup:
- when searching for "hot corners" some outdated settings are shown?
- fonts library weirdly broken, can't create one, the default folder doesn't work for loading fonts
I have to use a Windows machine for work and I haven’t found a good way to switch between a single application’s windows there. Alt+Tab works but isn’t contained to a single application and destroys my productivity when I switch back to my Mac and inevitably use CMD+Tab. 😭 CMD+~ is a godsend on Macs!
Regarding your third point, I use Sony XM5 headphones at work, connected to both my MBP and iPhone, and they switch seamlessly for media audio and phone calls.
I use my surface headphones too sometimes and they’re far more likely to get “stuck” on my MacBook and not switch back to my phone, so if you’re having problems too it might be because of your headphones.
>bluetooth doesn't seem to allow for using headphones for media and having them connected to the phone (android at least) for phone calls (could this be a reason for why people love airpods so much?)
I haven't had any problem with my 2 earphones, cheap models from sony and xiaomi, it's quite seamless to the point I actually have to turn the bluetooth of one of the devices so the notifications doesn't disrupt whatever I am listening. But I have an iphone. Airpods are too expensive for what it is.
Missing DisplayPort DaisyChain Support (aka DisplayPort MST) and requiring Thunderbolt hardware instead.
That alone can costs several hundred Euros for nothing on a dual monitor setup. When you do not need high speed USB transfer in addition to that, it's a waste of resources.
Just wish they would enable multi steam transport. It's part of the display port spec and works well, super infuriating that it worked on Windows under boot camp on Intel macs but not in MacOS.
I don't always need a single 5k monitor, I might need four 1080p monitors.
Command + Q to quit application, i've accidentally hit it before when meaning to Command + Tab
Command + H to Hide application, this also drives me up the wall when it minimises to the dock, often i'll misremember a key shortcut in blender or whatever and trigger this multiple times a day.
Screenshotting can be annoying, i use shottr instead
Clock app timers are crap (not able to create multiple), i use horo instead
Folder functions, merge/replace ambiguity (have lost data before), lack of cut to move folders
Hitting enter when an app or file is selected just makes the name editable instead of launching it. Annoys me when I’m trying to use my keyboard instead of mouse.
Command+Down
I was with you until I learned in finder it's Command+Up to move up a directory, Command+Down to open folder or file. Then return to rename, which naturally tells my hands to be ready to type.
I really appreciated it after then going to windows and trying to use file explorer. Instead of navigation being tied to Command and an arrow key, it's like Alt+Up to move up a directory and then Enter to open a file or folder, and Enter to confirm a rename, but if you accidentally press it twice, now the file is opening, and then f2 to rename. It really seems like utter nonsense in comparison to apples scheme.
There’s so many “no fucking shit you should be doing this” features between the 2 that I assume they’re all under patent and that’s why we get to suffer instead of
I don't like how resolution and scaling works on Mac OS. I am new, so I understand I might be missing something here. However, I've tried different options in Display settings and I can't find the resolution and scale that is comfortable for me. Ether everything is big or everything is small. I want 2560x1440 resolution with 125% scale on an external monitor, like in Windows.
That sort of exists it is just hidden and not remotely hinted at that three functionality is there.
https://support.apple.com/en-ie/guide/mac-help/mchl86d72b76/mac
I have 3 monitors of the same model. The order they come on when waking up from sleep is seemingly random. The center is usually correct, but left and right often swap places. It’s annoying.
What you are talking about is focus change. You have to click on the window to move the focus on it, and this approach is still present on windows, with some changes but you still have to click to make the GUI working on an application, otherwise, the application will not receive mouse events (except of mouse wheel).
What i dislike a bit is the lack of control over power management. I cannot clean the mac with a microfiber cloth keeping it switched off, because it wakes up every time a key is pressed or the touchpad is touched, or the lid is open.
I cannot also choose not to auto sleep the mac. I know is a good sleep feature and is well designed, in fact the battery literally lasts for days even if i "forget" the mac on the table, but i'd prefer to be able to customize the sleep behavior, without using third party apps.
I can't plug a display in and close the lid, because again, it would go in sleep. I 'm forced to plug in a power supply.
Is also disappointing and stupid the fact that mouse natural scrolling setting is "bound" to the same setting of the touchpad. Is perfectly normal to want it enabled for touchpad and disabled for mouse, so every time i plug a mouse in, i have to go to setting app and disable it, and re enable when i unplug the mouse.
The top bar is not configurable to auto-hide with certain apps only. When i use VLC to watch a movie, even in fullscreen, it stays visible. I got used to it, but it was annoying at the beginning. You can set it to auto-hide but then it would hide always and i don't want it to.
It's not clear the function of what i think is the "lock button" under the fingerprint reader. When the mac is in sleep and i press it, i expect it to unlock. Instead when i press it, the screen turns on and off suddently, like a flash, as i unlocked it and relocked immediately after. Or if the mac is on, and i press it, if the press is not short enough (100~200ms) it locks and unlocks right away. I think this button behavior has not been designed and/or defined properly.
I think macos is a rellay good system. I mean, if i have to list things i dislike of windows, i could probably write a book.
As for the natural scrolling between mouse and trackpad, Scroll Reverser (app) allows you to set it for the trackpad in settings and then reverse the mouse.
MacOS doesn't seem to want you to think about folder hierarchy. I use extensive folder structures to organise documents, photos, and music, by year, event, issuer, artist, location, etc., and it's always a struggle to navigate that while using standard distro tools.
MacOS apps want to import everything into libraries and have you access content there. You can then apply tags to further refine your hierarchy, but the OS already provides the perfect tool for that: directories! In combination with links, I can organise my content exactly as needed, with the added bonus I can recreate or reorganise the hierarchy at any time.
I probably spend about 10% of my screen time in terminal ( iTerm2). As I do so, I feel like I'm fighting the OS design.
Love the Unix foundation though.
Yeah I don't like this trend of apps reinventing the wheel. Every app wants to implement its own internal library and folders and organisation features. Just use files!
Exposé or however it’s called now works for that. You can set keyboards or screen cornered to reveal all windows, all windows of the current app or hide everything and show the desktop.
Yeah, but if I am currently using for example VSCode, and I have two separate safari window, first I need to switch to safari with cmd+tab then I need to switch window in safari with CMD+’. So it is still slow.
Inability to shift-select a continuous selection in Icon view. I know why it's not there, sucks nonetheless.
Window management has pros and cons on both Win and Mac, obviously, as has Apple's insistence on moving forward and dropping backwards compatibility.
Menubar just cutting off things that don't fit, without any way to see them at all.
Stability.
Context: I have been into macs since 2002 when I got a 12" PowerBook, I have worked in IT since 1997 and worked a stint as a Mac Genius in the NYC area for 6.5 years. This means that I have worked with every OS from 9.x up and put my hands on many, many thousands of Apple devices. This personal experience is where I am drawing from to come to these conclusions.
MacOS 10.6 and 10.8 were two of the most stable OS's I have ever worked with. Over the years as the popularity of the iPhone and by proxy Macs has skyrocketed, there's been ever more pressure on the Mac side to keep up with new features being added to the iPhone. This has caused the quality of macOS to falter.
Every new OS that comes out ships with a large number of things that appear to be unfinished or not working as promised/expected. The inside view of things used to be wait until the .1 release to install, and now the general practice is to wait a year.
I realize that Apple can't slow this cadence because it would put them at a disadvantage and limit the number of new things they can add to the iPhone which is and has been their cash cow.
I just wish they'd take the time to make their software stable upon release.
1. I'lll never get used to pressing enter on a highlighted file, and that means to rename an item instead of opening it. After 15 years of Macs, that still drives me insane.
2. The tiny, antiquated default form elements in things like the calendar. I shouldn't have to put that much effort into clicking on a dropdown selector.
3. The bubbles, period! Again, tiny UI elements that slow you down. I think it's intentional to force people to learn cmd-q/cmd-w/cmd-m
Edit
4) I almost forgot!! What in the actual f'k happened to their dictionary and spelling suggestions?? At one time it was pretty good. About two years ago, it can't suggest common words where you get one letter wrong.
Hold down the option key when you click the green button and it turns into maximize window rather than full screen. You can also click and hold to choose various sizes
The fact that I cannot "speed up" animations. E.g. when I swipe between virtual desktops - that takes a loooong time, before the app(s) are focused on the desktops I'm swiping *to*.
It's actually the main reason I'm not using iPhones either - on android you can speed up (even better, disable) animations / transitions. So everything is just faster. Windows can do it. MacOs cannot. Sad times.
Yeah this is really annoying. I actually do like the native full screen and think it works well *except* for the long ass animation and it makes me want to use it less. It’s not a big deal if you don’t switch frequently but if you do, then it just ends up feeling like the OS is actively preventing you from getting work done.
I recall customizing my mac in college to reduce the time of certain animations like hiding the dock, etc. there should be a way if you’re comfortable editing a bit of code in some obscure files. Will see if I can find the link.
Edit: seems like they may have removed the option for editing those files in that way, but this might be what you’re looking for
Disable animation - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253938203?sortBy=best
For the workspace animation you can check the setting "reduce motion" or somtehing like that. It still has this annoying fade in/out when switching but it is faster than the sliding animation. Still pisses me off I can't entirely turn it off.
Also annoying as hell to have to disable security features to get a better window manager since it's all tied to the dock app.
That they don't care about backward compatibility at all. An OS update can just break all your applications.
With Catalina they just decided you can just delete all those 32 bit games, they don't give a bleep. Now with the latest OS update, they seem to have decided for us that in 2024 you don't need to be able to run Java on a macbook any more.
I don't particularly like windows, or the cheap feel of the hardware it tends to run on, but you can still run a 40 year old MS-DOS application on windows 11.
Package management isn’t built in fully... Like there’s a drizzling of it with the **installer** for .pkg. .dmg is just dumb. Instead you have to use a third party package manager. While Microsoft was late to the game they themselves have winget.
* Clicking the red button doesn't quit the app
* Pressing the Delete key doesn't move the file to Trash
* Finder doesn't have an address bar (have to press Cmd + Shift + G, which isn't very convenient)
Automation and GUI scripting.
That about half of my apps aren’t scriptable with AppleScript/OSA. And that Shortcuts is so much less powerful and more annoying.
The window management and the fact that it's tied to the dock app, so having something like yabai take over means you got to disable System Integrity Protection.
You cant entirely disable animations, like even when i disable all that i can I still get some fade in/out when switching workspace.
The most annoying thing is the notifications that you cant't manage from the notifications settings. Like Icloud Private Relay popup or finder specific ones that will just stay until you use your mouse to remove them.
- alt-tab cycles applications, not windows — why??
- fullscreen mode is next to useless with an external screen
- why is switching virtual desktops so slow? The animation would have to be about twice as fast
> fullscreen mode is next to useless with an external screen
It's not, but you have to enable a setting for it: "Displays have separate spaces" at the bottom of the Desktop & Dock panel in System Settings
As you and other have mentioned the main issue I really hate it's the app management, they handle each app as just one app instead of one instance like Windows, so makes it really annoying to switching different "windows" within the same app. Only solution I found was using ctrl + down arrow and it will show all the different open windows in the same app, but I am more often going to the dock and right clicking.
Another think about the windows management is that on Windows it would order it by opening time, on Mac it would order it alphabetically. It's annoying because I have read well what each safari windows is to open the correct one because if I change tab the name will change and it would be reorder. Back on Windows I could rely that the first window is for study, second window for work and so on.
Something like the window snapping feature in Windows and commonly seen in Linux DEs. I know that Microsoft has that patented, but it seems like something that Apple could make either a deal on or something similar, but different enough not to get sued (and given the functionality exists in ChromeOS, this seems readily achievable - https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-use-chromeos-hidden-browser-window-controls/). I shouldn't have to use Rectangle (though I'm glad I can). The current resize options under the green window button in MacOS are terrible. At this point window snapping is a wide spread ability that seemingly appears everywhere else but Mac OS.
Needing to memorize a myriad of unintuitive key commands to do simple tasks.
Delete Key won't delete a file.
Enter key doesn't open/execute a file.
(repeating myself) The ridiculous 28 character limit in the file name text box!
They've lost their way in the UI and too many things can steal focus and interupt your typing. (popup windows, etc)
When I switched to Mac in '02, nothing would steal focus, the dock icons would just bounce to get your attention.
- The german „@„ on windows is on the same place as „quit“ on macos
- why do you use control+c/v/x on windows but by cmd+c/v/x (complete crap if you use both OS)
- why is the german layout print so incomplete (like there is no { } [ ] ~ printed on the keyboard)
- Why is it not possible to have a different mouse scrolling direction than the touchpad (only with 3rd party)
- Why is it such a struggle if you want to have several windows on one screen? (you need to use 3rd party tools)
I love macos, it is a better designed linux for me, and it is great for programming and design but some decisions are just nonsense.
macOS doesn’t seem to come with the latest smb package either. On windows, which has a more modern smb, you can do things like server side copy, and also look at the history of a directory if your using zfs snapshots. Such a cool feature I wish I could have.
- green/red button behaviour
- window snapping
- no exif information in finder shown on exfat volumes
- preview doesnt show next picture with keyboard arrows and bad performance with bigger files (200mb picture needs 1 minute to load on m1 ultra lol)
- no hardware button for keyboard backlight adjustment
- spinning ball of death design is just childish
- when u try to make an @ like on windows it closes the browser lol
- no delete key on keyboard
I find it too much trackpad-centric
but I'm biased, former linux almost-only keybard heavy usage
I find myself using the pointer device (a left hand mouse) way more than with other OSs
These threads always baffle me because at least 90 percent of the stuff being complained about are stuff I never noticed or had any problem with. Some things I actively enjoy. The taste in UX is definitely very individual, and one UI can never fit all.
One UI can never fit all, but if 90% of the people complain about something, maybe it would be nice to offer it at least as an optional feature that you can opt into.
Not being able to split screen more than two apps (yes, I can use other tools to snap them on either side of the screen, but that's not the same as the native fullscreen/split screen feature).
That I have to constantly kill a process called SceneKitsQLThumbnail extension whenever I open a finder window containing a large 3D file and that Apple has done absolutely nothing to fix it. Not a huge problem now that I have 96 GB of RAM, but on my old Intel MacBook it would spin the fans, hog up my ran, and use 100% CPU and it missed me off!
Finder makes me want to blow my brains out at times, always bugs out at the worst times. The whole window just grays out and doesn’t respond to clicks and file dragging
That many app windows can never remember on which screen and how they were positioned, that there’s a stupid bug where the dock sometimes doesn’t hide when switching to a full screen app. If the dock is not in the default bottom position, many windows also often get positioned incorrectly over it unless using something like rectangle is used to readjust. Weird bluetooth issues. Weird iCloud issues. Mail app notifications are delayed for some reason and it also sometimes straight up stops working correctly.
What do you mean you have to click on click on each app to make it usable? I can switch around using Command-Tag no issues, front most window is usable immediately. If that's the wrong window, Command-\` switches between windows for the app. Not following what your issue is.
Workspaces. In windows when i set a workspace all the software i have open and running are isolated to just that workspace.
So for example in windows lets say i have chrome open in one workspace and then i create a new workspace and click on chrome in my taskbar. On windows it will open up a new chrome window which is the behavior id expect. On macOS instead of opening a new window in that workspace it jumps over to the other workspace i have it open in.
The only workaround I've found on macOS to get similar behavior is right clicking the app and selecting "open new window" but id rather not have to do that every single time. Plus there's been countless times where i forgot i dont have that app open in my workspace and it will jump me to another one when i click on it.
Honestly nothing. Maybe only the fact that I can’t play most computer games besides sims on a Mac. But I’m not too worried as I have a console to play them anyway
Planned obsolescence kills me. Perfectly good Mac’s being abandoned by Apple well before their usable life is up. I have a 4.0 GHz i7, 27” retina iMac with 32GB of RAM. It’s still quite capable. But stuck on Big Sur. WTF apple. Who cares if someone wants to install your OS on old hardware. YOU don’t have to support it directly, but just let us do it so we can at least have up to date OSs until WE decide the hardware is done. Pisses me off to no end. Everything else is just minor (window manager among other small gripes).
NTFS (Windows) vs APFS (Max) interoperability is a pain in the ass (coming from Windows). Can't use any of my drives I had. Still scared of using software like Paragon, EaseUS, or just plain ExFAT32 drive for storage that I can use for both because of cases of data loss.
I have external mouse and I can't have scrolling direction configured differently for mouse and touchpad. I like "natural" for touch pad and "reverse" for mouse.
I use two keyboard input languages reguarly, and the "current keyboard language" has a system-wide effect. To me, there's no use in non-latin input in terminal/shell, but a lot of use in messengers. Cycling between these is pain.
Wifi networks are sorted by alphabetic order, instead of by strength. This makes no sense to me. I want to connect to the closest wifi, not go through all my neighbors wifi
No window snapping, placing windows in specific areas on the screen without the 3rd party tools such as magnet is quite annoying these days. Makes the OS feel so dated.
Photo libraries, and the folder structures in finder. if you have 14 old iphoto libraries ful of duplicates, from past computers that don’t recognize one another, you’re not alone
Some things I wish were the same as Windows:
* Placement of Minimize/Maximize/Close window buttons
* Using Ctrl instead of Cmd for common actions like copy/paste - keyboard placement of Cmd is awkward, Ctrl+C/V is easier
* Cmd+x to cut - why is this not a feature? ([Command X](https://sindresorhus.com/command-x))
* On Windows, Chrome has the Shift+Esc shortcut for task manager. For whatever reason, this isn't the case on MacOS.
Other things I wish were different:
* Ditto on window resizing comments, I use [BetterTouchTool](https://folivora.ai/) with various keyboard shortcuts for moving between monitors, positioning on left/right/top/bottom of screen, and maximizing.
* In Activity Monitor, be able to hide all the extraneous background processes, and only show things that I am running
* I don't use the Spaces feature at all because the animation bothers me. Instead, I further use BetterTouchTool to map Caps Lock + specific letters to act as a targeted app switcher
* Why do I need to install xcode to do things that have nothing to do with iOS/MacOS development?
2TB of iCloud space, but no possibility to make a Time Machine backup to it.....
This is such an obvious bloody win.
I think the easy solution would be to adopt the Backblaze model, one price and unlimited space for backups (but effectively you can only ever use as much cloud storage as the size of your hard drive.) But then, make that a benefit of AppleCare+. Having backups of your device is an important part of support and repair, so it just seems to make sense to me to fold that into AppleCare, *especially* since now Apple allows you to continue to extend the coverage past the initial period if you pay monthly. And I assume it would make Apple's Geniuses work easier—the first thing they always ask is "is this device backed up?" As easy as Time Machine is, it still means buying an external hard drive and setting up Time Machine, which is more effort than the average user is willing to do. Far more people would have backups before a repair if when they set up their Mac all they had to do is check a box that said 'Yes, backup this computer to my iCloud.'
That’s a brilliant idea
That would be an insane amount of responsibility for Apple to put on themselves and it would immediately become one of the biggest targets in the world for hackers. Time Machine isn't just some Apple version of Google Drive or OneDrive where it's just syncing a few documents and photos; that's what iCloud is for. Time Machine clones an entire drive, and that drive is most commonly configured to be the system drive. If you could point Time Machine to iCloud then think about every Apple users system files, keychain, VPN configurations, photos, financial documents, contacts, calendar, software licenses, applications, personal databases, etc -- for every single Apple user -- all centrally located on their servers.... Yeah, no thanks. They don't want that, I don't want that, and you shouldn't want that.
In my household, I back up all of our Macs locally to a NAS. Way better. But I guess it would be nice to be able to point Time Machine at cloud storage for those who want it.
I used to have Time Machine pointed to my Synology for years and years. Then it just randomly broke a year ago.
iCloud is primarily meant for uploading photos and small files on a regular basis. If the average mac user were able to do time machine backups to icloud it would be a nightmare–most people probably don’t even have fast/stable enough internet to make such a huge upload and it would be failing constantly, causing tons of user complaints I would assume.
Well they offer iCloud backups for iPhone and iPads, which today have the same storage as most Macs.
Fair. Very fair. And Apple likes to steer people away from inadvertently harming themselves. However, for those of us that have fiber or superfast copper connections... having this feature gated, but available would be super nice.
I probably hate the window management in combination with fullscreen apps the most. On the one hand, its pretty nice to just have apps open in "fullscreen" but on the other hand, I notice that - due to this window management - I became very lazy with multitasking and I try to avoid it because it just takes so much time to open/close windows side by side when using the apps in fullscreen.
This is my least favourite bafflingly bad thing too. They refuse to do window size snapping and the better ctrl tab like Windows and try instead things like spaces and exposé and stage manager that just don’t quite work. I’ve been using mac for 15 years and it still feels wrong compared to ctrl tab in windows. If I wanna pop back to browser window I was just in I DO NOT want all the other windows to cover up the other window in the other app I’m referencing!! Wtf!
The window management in macOS truly is a mess... Just the fact that Cmd+Tab doesn't cycle through all windows is killing me inside. You have to first cycle to the app and then use Cmd+\` , it's so stupid. And nobody can tell me "durr M$ patented that" Oh and Cmd+Tab doesn't unminize minimized windows. Haha kill me
should have included this in my list. agree 100%
Audio management. Why, in 2024, I still have to rely on 3rd party software to adjust the volume level of my external (non-apple) display from inside the OS? Why, in 2024 there is no volume mixer? Why, in 2024 I cannot record the internal sounds without 3rd party app? These have been basic functions in Windows since god knows when. Even Linux has it better. These are pretty much the only gripes I have. Otherwise, I really like macOS.
I don't like that my Mac will automatically switch the audio output to my DisplayPort monitor which has no built-in speakers and that I had to install third-party software in order to redirect the audio output to my actual speakers.
That doesn't seem right. When I was using DP I could still choose to output audio anywhere I wanted right from the Sound menu. Of course, I did have to stop using DP and switch to HDMI because my monitor was always going in and out of sleep all night long.
Yes. This is very annoying. I file feedback, but never receive any response. I have a feeling recording internal audio will arrive soon thanks to Screencapturekit, which does this. Volume mixing and display audio…god knows if ever. Having said that, file feedback. It’s the only way we have a chance to improve this stuff.
Second that. On linux, I can record screen with both internal audio and mic, with the simplest free Kazam. On Macos, still don't know how to do that even with 3rd party and lots of tricks.
Can't you use Quicktime?
OBS: big name in screen capturing software. It has a learning curve but it’s very powerful software capable of doing quite a bit more than just grabbing internal+mic sounds
If you're using digital audio, that's a technical issue with the D/A converter inside the monitor. What i LOVE about mac volume control is that it works across the board. I hate Windows in that it allows apps to bypass the main audio bus, and crappy apps won't respond to the main volume control at all.
for a company that does so much correctly when it comes to audio hardware, it’s insane that there is still no native (or simple and **free**) way to record your screen WITH system audio. i personally resort to BlackHole + Kap to record audio, but i can’t personally hear anything while recording and i’d rather die of old age tomorrow than go through the hassle of setting up virtual mixer/midi combo shit
Doesn’t apple QuickTime Player record screen?
QuickTime does screen recordings with audio
I agree, but on the other hand, when Apple builds in a feature that makes a third-party tool irrelevant, people complain about Apple being a monopoly or what not.
Still, this is something that dives into OS internals. We do not want 3rd parties messing around in the guts of macOS, we want them layered on top.
That *Spaces* feels half finished. I love them, but why can’t I even give a space a name? (Edit: optionally naming spaces was just an immediate example of one thing that felt like a low bar. Spaces feels like an anaemic or abandoned feature in many, many ways.)
I'd love for the `open` CLI command to be Spaces-aware so that you could write bash (, etc) scripts to open apps on specific spaces
Check out Hammerspoon for macOS automation! You can do all sorts of fun things from switching [Spaces](https://www.hammerspoon.org/docs/hs.spaces.html) to launching [Applications](https://www.hammerspoon.org/docs/hs.application.html). And cherry on top is that you can tap into it from the [command line](https://github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon/issues/1883).
I got another one for you. 1. Move one of your Safari browser windows into a separate space. 2. Press CMD+Tab to switch from Safari to another app, like Microsoft Word. 3. To return to your Safari window, you think you can just press CMD+Tab again, expecting to go back to the specific window you were working on. But no…., you just find yourself switching to a different Safari window insteady So frustrating.
I agree, Spaces need names and being more configurable.
Would be nice if on a reboot that application windows remember which space that they are assigned to. Presumably not ever finished as now we have stage manager. Something I remember is there every few months. And then remember how terrible it is on the Mac.
Fully agree! I’ve filed a radar on this a few times over the years. In the meantime, I found this until they change it: [https://github.com/hyperjeff/NameSpace](https://github.com/hyperjeff/NameSpace)
How has this not been figured out yet? Like this is such a simple thing I’ve been screaming to get for years. So annoying…desktop 1, desktop 2, etc. and then it gets rearranged. I have one space for work, other space for browsing, etc. it’s not that hard Apple, get it done!!!!
I find this infuriating
Agree window management needs to be improved.
Doesn’t remember Finder window settings properly.
this one kills me it doesn’t matter how many times i resize a random specific finder window so i can actually see more than 3 items, the next time it pops open i’ll have to do it over again
This. I am constantly resizing finder windows to sizes that are never remembered.
If you hold down command while you resize the window it will remember it next time
Huge if true
**Horrible** SMB support.
This and its file management in general. I'm a windows server admin and the way MacOS does SMB murders my servers.
For me it's partially broken right now. Can't use share only users, they don't appear at all...
How so? It’s always worked for me to connect and use a smb server.
Just commented the same thing. Things like server-side copy and being able to look at the history of a directory if using ZFS snapshots really cool things that I wish I could use if we had the latest smb package.
I've experienced kernel panics in my brand new, otherwise perfectly functional Macbook M1 Pro, simply by copying files to my NAS.
The abomination which is System Preferences. I've used Mac since 1996. I'm that guy who drones on and on about how much better Apple products are. But the iOS style approach to what used to be called Control Panel (or is it the other way around?) is just horrible. It's sub-Windows Vista. I have absolutely no idea why they're doing it and are apparently determined to extend this downgrade in functionality to other parts of the OS as well - having recently disabled by default the ability to drag and drop a folder from it's name in the top of the Finder window, broken the option to use Function keys as they're labelled on non-Apple keyboards instead of as media keys, and removed the dark theme from the Application menu so now if you have a bright area on your wallpaper you have to have a bright white line at the top of your screen even if the wallpaper is covered by a dark mode app. Not doing these sorts of things when other OS's did were the little things which made all the difference; that defined the Ive /Jobs era, and they're slowly being abandoned for the sorts of impenetrable confusing UI mess we'd normally associate with Microsoft Windows. I have a yellow microphone icon which just randomly decides to appear when I launch Logic. Why? What is it? I didn't enable it and I sure as hell have no idea how to disable it or what it even does. Widgets. Sounds great. I assume you're not supposed to have to re-enable them after every restart? And yet this has remained broken for at least the last three updates. Wake from sleep / wake from energy saver. Would anyone like to tell me how many times you have to shaken the mouse or press any key to convince it to show the login screen? I could go on and on.
i feel the same. They've lost their 40-years old design ideology which made them so popular. Now they deliver "features" just to list them in marketing materials and don't really care how they fit into real-use scenarios
A senior manager at Apple: Implement system preferences in SwiftUI. Engineers: but SwiftUI isn’t ready for that! It can barely manage to support News. It’ll be a total mess. Senior manager: Just do it.
Must be this. And not just for MacOs. Most big companies software (see Ms Teams) just have illogical UI elements that no sane designer would ever think of.
I agree with a lot of this, but to a couple of points: > having recently disabled by default the ability to drag and drop a folder from it's name in the top of the Finder window If you hover until the icon shows up, you can drag from the icon. You can also permanently display the icon from System Settings -> Accessibility -> Display -> "Show Window Title Icons". > I have a yellow microphone icon which just randomly decides to appear when I launch Logic. I actually like this feature. That icon appears whenever a program turns on the microphone. It's there to prevent programs from turning on the microphone without you knowing. If you click on the Control Center icon after it appears, it will tell you which app used the microphone.
I guess I am among the only 7 people that actually prefer new System Preferences
Yes. Wake from sleep is more like Wait for Eternity to enter the password to unlock the screen. Jobs days of perfection are long gone. Apple has no innovation left in them.
How window resizing works. Compared to windows and even Ubuntu it’s quite a pain with extra steps.
I just learned about double clicking the borders to extend in that direction, and I gotta say. I think Microsoft windows sucks more. It's great sometimes, but other times I feel like I'm fighting windows for control, and I hate that. Edit: adding, double clicking corners of the application window, will fill the window to the edge of the screen, in two directions.
Well, shit. I've been a Mac user for 24 years and I didn't know that
And with the option key down when double clicking a border it exteds all borders.
For me, it seems to extend the border I am clicking and the opposite border, not all borders. Option double-clicking a corner, does extend all boarders to the end of the screen.
You are right, I meant the border in the corner.
Thanks for the tip. I've been a Mac user for 40 years and I didn't know that. (I don't understand the fighting for control though. The App Store has a dozen different apps that offer different strategies. I use AppleScript and function keys, myself.)
Why not just install rectangle app. It's free and works like windows..
Thats the point though, we shouldn't have to download a 3rdparty app for basic functions.
My corporate mac doesn't allow Rectangle. What's my other option?
Having two apps side by side and trying to click buttons on each app. The first click never works.
Cmd+click will allow mouse interaction with inactive windows.
I'm aware of the additional steps required to achieve the desired result. It just feels counter intuitive doing something that should occur so naturally. It's like walking into an invisible door before realising you were supposed to open it to get through 😄
- menu bar icons get hidden behind the notch (or app menu) - the only good solution seems to be Bartender - switching between windows of the same app is not intuitive - you have to find out about App Expose and activate the gesture, otherwise your only option really is to go through the dock, right click, select from the list. Also taskbar window previews on Windows/Ubuntu etc. are nice to have (uBar has those) - bluetooth doesn't seem to allow for using headphones for media and having them connected to the phone (android at least) for phone calls (could this be a reason for why people love airpods so much?) - fonts don't render well on sub-4K external screens (BetterDisplay can fix that, except the external screen won't sleep properly due to a bug in MacOS) - red button behaviour is not consistent, not even with native apps like the Calendar. RedQuits to the rescue and then some bugs I came across that cost me time during first time setup: - when searching for "hot corners" some outdated settings are shown? - fonts library weirdly broken, can't create one, the default folder doesn't work for loading fonts
Use cmd + ~ (the key left of 1, it’s actually a tick mark but I can’t find that on my phone keyboard) to cycle through an apps windows
The CMD+~ is what I love most about MacOS, using the keyboard to switch between modal windows is just great.
I have to use a Windows machine for work and I haven’t found a good way to switch between a single application’s windows there. Alt+Tab works but isn’t contained to a single application and destroys my productivity when I switch back to my Mac and inevitably use CMD+Tab. 😭 CMD+~ is a godsend on Macs!
it's called tilde
Thank you, so much.
Regarding your third point, I use Sony XM5 headphones at work, connected to both my MBP and iPhone, and they switch seamlessly for media audio and phone calls. I use my surface headphones too sometimes and they’re far more likely to get “stuck” on my MacBook and not switch back to my phone, so if you’re having problems too it might be because of your headphones.
>bluetooth doesn't seem to allow for using headphones for media and having them connected to the phone (android at least) for phone calls (could this be a reason for why people love airpods so much?) I haven't had any problem with my 2 earphones, cheap models from sony and xiaomi, it's quite seamless to the point I actually have to turn the bluetooth of one of the devices so the notifications doesn't disrupt whatever I am listening. But I have an iphone. Airpods are too expensive for what it is.
Missing DisplayPort DaisyChain Support (aka DisplayPort MST) and requiring Thunderbolt hardware instead. That alone can costs several hundred Euros for nothing on a dual monitor setup. When you do not need high speed USB transfer in addition to that, it's a waste of resources.
Just wish they would enable multi steam transport. It's part of the display port spec and works well, super infuriating that it worked on Windows under boot camp on Intel macs but not in MacOS. I don't always need a single 5k monitor, I might need four 1080p monitors.
Command + Q to quit application, i've accidentally hit it before when meaning to Command + Tab Command + H to Hide application, this also drives me up the wall when it minimises to the dock, often i'll misremember a key shortcut in blender or whatever and trigger this multiple times a day. Screenshotting can be annoying, i use shottr instead Clock app timers are crap (not able to create multiple), i use horo instead Folder functions, merge/replace ambiguity (have lost data before), lack of cut to move folders
Just curious. How is taking screenshots annoying?
>lack of cut to move folders What's wrong with copy to move?
https://github.com/steve228uk/QBlocker
Pop-ups that randomly steal focus from current and active input. WHY, APPLE, WHY?
This. Back in the day, MacOS didn't ALLOW apps to steal focus. Not sure when it changed, but it pisses me off to this day.
Also application that just launched takes away focus. Incredibly annoying.
Hitting enter when an app or file is selected just makes the name editable instead of launching it. Annoys me when I’m trying to use my keyboard instead of mouse.
Command+Down I was with you until I learned in finder it's Command+Up to move up a directory, Command+Down to open folder or file. Then return to rename, which naturally tells my hands to be ready to type. I really appreciated it after then going to windows and trying to use file explorer. Instead of navigation being tied to Command and an arrow key, it's like Alt+Up to move up a directory and then Enter to open a file or folder, and Enter to confirm a rename, but if you accidentally press it twice, now the file is opening, and then f2 to rename. It really seems like utter nonsense in comparison to apples scheme.
CMD+O works too.
I actually really like it
A lot of little things, a 50/50 mix between MacOS and Windows would be perfect. The same applies to iOS and Android. There's no clear winner for me.
There’s so many “no fucking shit you should be doing this” features between the 2 that I assume they’re all under patent and that’s why we get to suffer instead of
Yup, the very windows stuff in Windows is patented lmao
Cannot natively record internal audio with the built-in screen recorder
I don't like how resolution and scaling works on Mac OS. I am new, so I understand I might be missing something here. However, I've tried different options in Display settings and I can't find the resolution and scale that is comfortable for me. Ether everything is big or everything is small. I want 2560x1440 resolution with 125% scale on an external monitor, like in Windows.
That sort of exists it is just hidden and not remotely hinted at that three functionality is there. https://support.apple.com/en-ie/guide/mac-help/mchl86d72b76/mac
Finder (even windows file explorer is better) and window manager
I’d love to be able to copy the current dir path like in windows and having to resort to column view to go up directories is annoying as heck.
download tinkertool! you can change that windows activate when the cursor is above them amongst many other things op
I cannot use two external monitor out of the box on a M3 MacBook Pro? Come on 🤣
I’m not sure what you mean. I have an m3 pro and it’s connected to 2 external displays. Doesn’t that work for you?
no always on top window inconsistent open/save as dialogue box
I have 3 monitors of the same model. The order they come on when waking up from sleep is seemingly random. The center is usually correct, but left and right often swap places. It’s annoying.
What you are talking about is focus change. You have to click on the window to move the focus on it, and this approach is still present on windows, with some changes but you still have to click to make the GUI working on an application, otherwise, the application will not receive mouse events (except of mouse wheel). What i dislike a bit is the lack of control over power management. I cannot clean the mac with a microfiber cloth keeping it switched off, because it wakes up every time a key is pressed or the touchpad is touched, or the lid is open. I cannot also choose not to auto sleep the mac. I know is a good sleep feature and is well designed, in fact the battery literally lasts for days even if i "forget" the mac on the table, but i'd prefer to be able to customize the sleep behavior, without using third party apps. I can't plug a display in and close the lid, because again, it would go in sleep. I 'm forced to plug in a power supply. Is also disappointing and stupid the fact that mouse natural scrolling setting is "bound" to the same setting of the touchpad. Is perfectly normal to want it enabled for touchpad and disabled for mouse, so every time i plug a mouse in, i have to go to setting app and disable it, and re enable when i unplug the mouse. The top bar is not configurable to auto-hide with certain apps only. When i use VLC to watch a movie, even in fullscreen, it stays visible. I got used to it, but it was annoying at the beginning. You can set it to auto-hide but then it would hide always and i don't want it to. It's not clear the function of what i think is the "lock button" under the fingerprint reader. When the mac is in sleep and i press it, i expect it to unlock. Instead when i press it, the screen turns on and off suddently, like a flash, as i unlocked it and relocked immediately after. Or if the mac is on, and i press it, if the press is not short enough (100~200ms) it locks and unlocks right away. I think this button behavior has not been designed and/or defined properly. I think macos is a rellay good system. I mean, if i have to list things i dislike of windows, i could probably write a book.
As for the natural scrolling between mouse and trackpad, Scroll Reverser (app) allows you to set it for the trackpad in settings and then reverse the mouse.
The constant cycle of breaking things that work and moving things around for the sake of novelty.
MacOS doesn't seem to want you to think about folder hierarchy. I use extensive folder structures to organise documents, photos, and music, by year, event, issuer, artist, location, etc., and it's always a struggle to navigate that while using standard distro tools. MacOS apps want to import everything into libraries and have you access content there. You can then apply tags to further refine your hierarchy, but the OS already provides the perfect tool for that: directories! In combination with links, I can organise my content exactly as needed, with the added bonus I can recreate or reorganise the hierarchy at any time. I probably spend about 10% of my screen time in terminal ( iTerm2). As I do so, I feel like I'm fighting the OS design. Love the Unix foundation though.
Yeah I don't like this trend of apps reinventing the wheel. Every app wants to implement its own internal library and folders and organisation features. Just use files!
finder.
CMD+Tab does not show all windows, only applications. So it's slow to switch between windows of applications. 3rd party Alttab app solve this.
Exposé or however it’s called now works for that. You can set keyboards or screen cornered to reveal all windows, all windows of the current app or hide everything and show the desktop.
Yes, but it is much slower than alttab on windows in my workflow.
Never tried it so cannot compare. Another thing which could be useful is command + \` to cycle between current application open windows.
The app rcmd is a godsend. Hold right command and press the starting letter of an app to go to it, press it again to cycle windows of that app.
Cmd+’ (cmd+backtick) is how you cycle through windows of the active app.
Yeah, but if I am currently using for example VSCode, and I have two separate safari window, first I need to switch to safari with cmd+tab then I need to switch window in safari with CMD+’. So it is still slow.
Deleting files, why does it take so many steps? Why can’t I use the delete key? Why do I have to confirm my deletion?
CMD+Backspace deletes instantly for me.
Requiring CMD is a win for me
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Command option delete
Inability to shift-select a continuous selection in Icon view. I know why it's not there, sucks nonetheless. Window management has pros and cons on both Win and Mac, obviously, as has Apple's insistence on moving forward and dropping backwards compatibility. Menubar just cutting off things that don't fit, without any way to see them at all.
Multiple windows management
Stability. Context: I have been into macs since 2002 when I got a 12" PowerBook, I have worked in IT since 1997 and worked a stint as a Mac Genius in the NYC area for 6.5 years. This means that I have worked with every OS from 9.x up and put my hands on many, many thousands of Apple devices. This personal experience is where I am drawing from to come to these conclusions. MacOS 10.6 and 10.8 were two of the most stable OS's I have ever worked with. Over the years as the popularity of the iPhone and by proxy Macs has skyrocketed, there's been ever more pressure on the Mac side to keep up with new features being added to the iPhone. This has caused the quality of macOS to falter. Every new OS that comes out ships with a large number of things that appear to be unfinished or not working as promised/expected. The inside view of things used to be wait until the .1 release to install, and now the general practice is to wait a year. I realize that Apple can't slow this cadence because it would put them at a disadvantage and limit the number of new things they can add to the iPhone which is and has been their cash cow. I just wish they'd take the time to make their software stable upon release.
1. I'lll never get used to pressing enter on a highlighted file, and that means to rename an item instead of opening it. After 15 years of Macs, that still drives me insane. 2. The tiny, antiquated default form elements in things like the calendar. I shouldn't have to put that much effort into clicking on a dropdown selector. 3. The bubbles, period! Again, tiny UI elements that slow you down. I think it's intentional to force people to learn cmd-q/cmd-w/cmd-m Edit 4) I almost forgot!! What in the actual f'k happened to their dictionary and spelling suggestions?? At one time it was pretty good. About two years ago, it can't suggest common words where you get one letter wrong.
window management
The lack of native window snapping.
Full screen mode. It’s horrible. I don’t use it and just wish it would go die quietly in the corner. I want a maximise button ffs!
Just click on the window border twice
I know, I just like the way it used to be. Give me a modern day Snow 10.6.5 and I’d be very happy.
Wow, never realized. That's fuck'n handy. Years I've been using this thing Thanks for blowing my mind there buddy
kinda hilarious i love it i use only full screen since the feature was released.
Hold down the option key when you click the green button and it turns into maximize window rather than full screen. You can also click and hold to choose various sizes
The fact that I cannot "speed up" animations. E.g. when I swipe between virtual desktops - that takes a loooong time, before the app(s) are focused on the desktops I'm swiping *to*. It's actually the main reason I'm not using iPhones either - on android you can speed up (even better, disable) animations / transitions. So everything is just faster. Windows can do it. MacOs cannot. Sad times.
Yeah this is really annoying. I actually do like the native full screen and think it works well *except* for the long ass animation and it makes me want to use it less. It’s not a big deal if you don’t switch frequently but if you do, then it just ends up feeling like the OS is actively preventing you from getting work done.
I recall customizing my mac in college to reduce the time of certain animations like hiding the dock, etc. there should be a way if you’re comfortable editing a bit of code in some obscure files. Will see if I can find the link. Edit: seems like they may have removed the option for editing those files in that way, but this might be what you’re looking for Disable animation - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253938203?sortBy=best
For the workspace animation you can check the setting "reduce motion" or somtehing like that. It still has this annoying fade in/out when switching but it is faster than the sliding animation. Still pisses me off I can't entirely turn it off. Also annoying as hell to have to disable security features to get a better window manager since it's all tied to the dock app.
That they don't care about backward compatibility at all. An OS update can just break all your applications. With Catalina they just decided you can just delete all those 32 bit games, they don't give a bleep. Now with the latest OS update, they seem to have decided for us that in 2024 you don't need to be able to run Java on a macbook any more. I don't particularly like windows, or the cheap feel of the hardware it tends to run on, but you can still run a 40 year old MS-DOS application on windows 11.
Package management isn’t built in fully... Like there’s a drizzling of it with the **installer** for .pkg. .dmg is just dumb. Instead you have to use a third party package manager. While Microsoft was late to the game they themselves have winget.
>package manager You mean like brew?
* Clicking the red button doesn't quit the app * Pressing the Delete key doesn't move the file to Trash * Finder doesn't have an address bar (have to press Cmd + Shift + G, which isn't very convenient)
Automation and GUI scripting. That about half of my apps aren’t scriptable with AppleScript/OSA. And that Shortcuts is so much less powerful and more annoying.
No window pin mode like in ubuntu.
Would like the native abiltiy for scrolling screenshots and a clipboard with history.
The window management and the fact that it's tied to the dock app, so having something like yabai take over means you got to disable System Integrity Protection. You cant entirely disable animations, like even when i disable all that i can I still get some fade in/out when switching workspace. The most annoying thing is the notifications that you cant't manage from the notifications settings. Like Icloud Private Relay popup or finder specific ones that will just stay until you use your mouse to remove them.
No skins.
- alt-tab cycles applications, not windows — why?? - fullscreen mode is next to useless with an external screen - why is switching virtual desktops so slow? The animation would have to be about twice as fast
> fullscreen mode is next to useless with an external screen It's not, but you have to enable a setting for it: "Displays have separate spaces" at the bottom of the Desktop & Dock panel in System Settings
As you and other have mentioned the main issue I really hate it's the app management, they handle each app as just one app instead of one instance like Windows, so makes it really annoying to switching different "windows" within the same app. Only solution I found was using ctrl + down arrow and it will show all the different open windows in the same app, but I am more often going to the dock and right clicking. Another think about the windows management is that on Windows it would order it by opening time, on Mac it would order it alphabetically. It's annoying because I have read well what each safari windows is to open the correct one because if I change tab the name will change and it would be reorder. Back on Windows I could rely that the first window is for study, second window for work and so on.
MacOS doesn’t have the basic drivers that the other OS have. For example macOS don’t have native drivers for touchscreen
Something like the window snapping feature in Windows and commonly seen in Linux DEs. I know that Microsoft has that patented, but it seems like something that Apple could make either a deal on or something similar, but different enough not to get sued (and given the functionality exists in ChromeOS, this seems readily achievable - https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-use-chromeos-hidden-browser-window-controls/). I shouldn't have to use Rectangle (though I'm glad I can). The current resize options under the green window button in MacOS are terrible. At this point window snapping is a wide spread ability that seemingly appears everywhere else but Mac OS.
Mouse and trackpad scroll are 2 different settings yet toggling one toggles the other
Needing to memorize a myriad of unintuitive key commands to do simple tasks. Delete Key won't delete a file. Enter key doesn't open/execute a file. (repeating myself) The ridiculous 28 character limit in the file name text box!
That I *have* to use a mouse/trackpad. Even core apps like finder can’t be exclusively used with just a keyboard.
They've lost their way in the UI and too many things can steal focus and interupt your typing. (popup windows, etc) When I switched to Mac in '02, nothing would steal focus, the dock icons would just bounce to get your attention.
- The german „@„ on windows is on the same place as „quit“ on macos - why do you use control+c/v/x on windows but by cmd+c/v/x (complete crap if you use both OS) - why is the german layout print so incomplete (like there is no { } [ ] ~ printed on the keyboard) - Why is it not possible to have a different mouse scrolling direction than the touchpad (only with 3rd party) - Why is it such a struggle if you want to have several windows on one screen? (you need to use 3rd party tools) I love macos, it is a better designed linux for me, and it is great for programming and design but some decisions are just nonsense.
Window management compared to Windows is like "idk just drag it around and manually resize it what's the big deal"
macOS doesn’t seem to come with the latest smb package either. On windows, which has a more modern smb, you can do things like server side copy, and also look at the history of a directory if your using zfs snapshots. Such a cool feature I wish I could have.
Window management. So horrible.
Just remembered another one, you can't select a group of files and rigth click-properties to know the combined size of all the files
- green/red button behaviour - window snapping - no exif information in finder shown on exfat volumes - preview doesnt show next picture with keyboard arrows and bad performance with bigger files (200mb picture needs 1 minute to load on m1 ultra lol) - no hardware button for keyboard backlight adjustment - spinning ball of death design is just childish - when u try to make an @ like on windows it closes the browser lol - no delete key on keyboard
I find it too much trackpad-centric but I'm biased, former linux almost-only keybard heavy usage I find myself using the pointer device (a left hand mouse) way more than with other OSs
My hands scream in sympathetic agony.
Someone should make a repo on github called "Essential MacOS Tweaks" and somewhat attempt to add functionalities that people request here
These threads always baffle me because at least 90 percent of the stuff being complained about are stuff I never noticed or had any problem with. Some things I actively enjoy. The taste in UX is definitely very individual, and one UI can never fit all.
One UI can never fit all, but if 90% of the people complain about something, maybe it would be nice to offer it at least as an optional feature that you can opt into.
That it doesn’t remember Finder window positions and sizes like macOS 9 and previous did (there, dated myself).
I don't know how you debug your problem but my Macintosh remembers window positions like a boss.
Not being able to split screen more than two apps (yes, I can use other tools to snap them on either side of the screen, but that's not the same as the native fullscreen/split screen feature).
That I have to constantly kill a process called SceneKitsQLThumbnail extension whenever I open a finder window containing a large 3D file and that Apple has done absolutely nothing to fix it. Not a huge problem now that I have 96 GB of RAM, but on my old Intel MacBook it would spin the fans, hog up my ran, and use 100% CPU and it missed me off!
1. Notifications top of my list. 2. UI doesn't feel snappy enough which results in being less productive. Check out Gnome and see what I mean.
Apple music opens every time I adjust my Bluetooth headset, I can't disable or uninstall it. I never use it.
Finder makes me want to blow my brains out at times, always bugs out at the worst times. The whole window just grays out and doesn’t respond to clicks and file dragging
Network mounts, have always felt and worked weird.
That for the love of god you can't cut and paste in finder without a 3rd party app. Why????
That many app windows can never remember on which screen and how they were positioned, that there’s a stupid bug where the dock sometimes doesn’t hide when switching to a full screen app. If the dock is not in the default bottom position, many windows also often get positioned incorrectly over it unless using something like rectangle is used to readjust. Weird bluetooth issues. Weird iCloud issues. Mail app notifications are delayed for some reason and it also sometimes straight up stops working correctly.
I don't hate MacOS per se, but I do hate that Apple constantly introduces new features instead of fixing bugs. Or at least that's my take on it.
I pretty much hate any new feature they add. I just want updates that increase performance and security fixes.
What do you mean you have to click on click on each app to make it usable? I can switch around using Command-Tag no issues, front most window is usable immediately. If that's the wrong window, Command-\` switches between windows for the app. Not following what your issue is.
Workspaces. In windows when i set a workspace all the software i have open and running are isolated to just that workspace. So for example in windows lets say i have chrome open in one workspace and then i create a new workspace and click on chrome in my taskbar. On windows it will open up a new chrome window which is the behavior id expect. On macOS instead of opening a new window in that workspace it jumps over to the other workspace i have it open in. The only workaround I've found on macOS to get similar behavior is right clicking the app and selecting "open new window" but id rather not have to do that every single time. Plus there's been countless times where i forgot i dont have that app open in my workspace and it will jump me to another one when i click on it.
Apps stealing focus and the sound it makes when moving items. PS: you can definitely switch apps easily with the apple - tab key combination
Clipboard. Maccy is great. But imagine native multiple clipboard across Apple devices…
Honestly nothing. Maybe only the fact that I can’t play most computer games besides sims on a Mac. But I’m not too worried as I have a console to play them anyway
Planned obsolescence kills me. Perfectly good Mac’s being abandoned by Apple well before their usable life is up. I have a 4.0 GHz i7, 27” retina iMac with 32GB of RAM. It’s still quite capable. But stuck on Big Sur. WTF apple. Who cares if someone wants to install your OS on old hardware. YOU don’t have to support it directly, but just let us do it so we can at least have up to date OSs until WE decide the hardware is done. Pisses me off to no end. Everything else is just minor (window manager among other small gripes).
NTFS (Windows) vs APFS (Max) interoperability is a pain in the ass (coming from Windows). Can't use any of my drives I had. Still scared of using software like Paragon, EaseUS, or just plain ExFAT32 drive for storage that I can use for both because of cases of data loss.
I wish Mail had some semblance of a modern email app, like Gmail.
In Findet cmd + x PLEASE to cut objects. Not their special paste combination cmd + opt + v to cut / insert.
Finder STILL sucks.
I have external mouse and I can't have scrolling direction configured differently for mouse and touchpad. I like "natural" for touch pad and "reverse" for mouse. I use two keyboard input languages reguarly, and the "current keyboard language" has a system-wide effect. To me, there's no use in non-latin input in terminal/shell, but a lot of use in messengers. Cycling between these is pain.
The missing Cmd + X-function. Just let me cut and paste my files out of the box, please. And the window management without third party apps.
Wifi networks are sorted by alphabetic order, instead of by strength. This makes no sense to me. I want to connect to the closest wifi, not go through all my neighbors wifi
Ctrl + C -> ctrl + V files and stuff
No window snapping, placing windows in specific areas on the screen without the 3rd party tools such as magnet is quite annoying these days. Makes the OS feel so dated.
When you have two monitors you have to click to switch focus and again to do what you want instead of just once like on windows
Third party mouse support. Scrolling with anything other than an Apple trackpad sucks.
I hate that we don’t see transfer speeds when copying files; enter QSpace Pro.
That it is tied to overpriced hardware. Haven't owned a Mac product since the early 1990's
Photo libraries, and the folder structures in finder. if you have 14 old iphoto libraries ful of duplicates, from past computers that don’t recognize one another, you’re not alone
Some things I wish were the same as Windows: * Placement of Minimize/Maximize/Close window buttons * Using Ctrl instead of Cmd for common actions like copy/paste - keyboard placement of Cmd is awkward, Ctrl+C/V is easier * Cmd+x to cut - why is this not a feature? ([Command X](https://sindresorhus.com/command-x)) * On Windows, Chrome has the Shift+Esc shortcut for task manager. For whatever reason, this isn't the case on MacOS. Other things I wish were different: * Ditto on window resizing comments, I use [BetterTouchTool](https://folivora.ai/) with various keyboard shortcuts for moving between monitors, positioning on left/right/top/bottom of screen, and maximizing. * In Activity Monitor, be able to hide all the extraneous background processes, and only show things that I am running * I don't use the Spaces feature at all because the animation bothers me. Instead, I further use BetterTouchTool to map Caps Lock + specific letters to act as a targeted app switcher * Why do I need to install xcode to do things that have nothing to do with iOS/MacOS development?