Speed up desktop switching animation in macOS Tahoe

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Level 1

4 points

Speed up desktop switching animation in macOS Tahoe

In macOS Tahoe, the desktop switching animation (when using 3-finger swipe or Ctrl+arrow keys) takes too long to complete. The animation itself is smooth and beautiful, but the duration is significantly longer compared to previous macOS versions.

Is there any way to speed up or shorten the desktop switching animation duration? I've tried:

- Reduce Motion in Accessibility settings (but this just changes the animation style, doesn't speed it up)

- Various system settings searches

The issue is not about choppy or laggy performance - the animation runs smoothly. It simply takes too much time to transition between desktops compared to the previous version, which slows down my workflow.

When using Command-Tab the switching speed is perfect but not with 3-finger swipe or Ctrl+arrow keys.

Is there a hidden setting, Terminal command, or any other way to adjust the animation speed/duration for desktop switching in macOS Tahoe?

My system:

MacBook Pro M5

24GB RAM

macOS Tahoe 26.1

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.1

Posted on Nov 24, 2025 6:07 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 24, 2025 7:40 AM in response to mclarkson

mclarkson wrote:

In macOS Tahoe, the desktop switching animation (when using 3-finger swipe or Ctrl+arrow keys) takes too long to complete. The animation itself is smooth and beautiful, but the duration is significantly longer compared to previous macOS versions.

I have a 16" M4 Pro MBP running Tahoe and a 16" M1 Pro MBP running Sequoia, both are sitting on my desk and I see no difference in the speed of switching between Spaces. Literally, one hand on each trackpad and the switching speed is identical across five Spaces/desktops on each Mac. That's true for Control-arrow as well.

Note that while Control-arrow switches Spaces at a fixed rate (sort of a mid-speed), the speed of a three-finger swipe determines the speed of switching. If you drag your fingers sedately across the trackpad, the display slowly slides between Spaces and you pause your fingers, the swipe pauses in mid-transition. OTOH, if you use a very fast swipe on the trackpad then the Spaces slide much faster.

In fact, I can make a three-finger swipe switch to the next Space faster than Command-Tab for two open applications on adjacent Spaces (with the apps as the last two used so they're adjacent in the app switcher). The only difference there is Command-Tab can move at the same speed whether the other app is on the next Space over or 5 Spaces away while swiping through Spaces means swiping through all of them.

Apple always reviews feedback, but in this case I suspect they will find nothing that needs to be changed.

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Answer 2

Nov 24, 2025 8:41 AM in response to mclarkson

You're welcome.

It's an interesting observation (which I didn't notice) that Command-Tab is slightly faster at switching between adjacent Spaces than Control-arrow.

What about an alternate approach? Create Shortcuts to open Terminal and other apps you switch between. If you add them to the Services menu and add Keyboard Shortcuts, you can use those to switch between specific apps with just the keyboard (if the app is not open it will launch, if it's open in another Space it will switch).

Admittedly, I'm a noob as far as Shortcuts but for example, I created Open Terminal and assigned Command-Shift-1 and also Open Safari and assigned Command-Shift-2, and pressing those keys switches between the open apps (across Spaces if need be).

Intro to Shortcuts on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

135,539 points

Nov 24, 2025 7:03 AM in response to mclarkson

Feel free to send Apple feedback.

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 4

mclarkson Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 24, 2025 7:52 AM in response to neuroanatomist

Ah yes, you are correct, and I actually didn't think of moving my hand faster for 3-finger swipe! Thanks for that, although I do have to move my hand pretty fast to get it to the speed I want. A bit of exercise I guess.

The issue for me is I do a lot of work in the terminal and fingers remain on the keyboard (Vim workflow), so the quickest thing to press is Ctrl-left, do something, Ctrl-right back to terminal, without moving my palms. When I go back to the terminal I'm typing just a fraction before the window stops then have to repeat my typing. I'm typing before it stops because it takes an age, comparitively, to move the last few pixels. Command-Tab is the perfect speed, but not always the place I want to get to in one keypress.

My work laptop is still on the previous Mac OS version and it has the same issue, you're right.

Animation speed setting would be great.

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