Glitches with Spaces

[ohbrilliance]

Hi, I just thought I'd bring up something that has been nagging me for a while to see if anybody else experiences this and has any suggestions.

Switching between applications and spaces has had a couple of issues for me since at least MacOS 14 and possibly MacOS 13. It still persists in MacOS 16.

Scenario 1
Desktop 1 has Safari open as top-most window
Desktop 2 has Safari and Finder windows open with Safari on top.

• Navigate to Desktop 1
• Use Command-Tab to change to Safari (even if Safari is already the window in focus)
• Use Command-Tab to switch to Preview

=> Desktop changes to Desktop 2. Finder document shows briefly but Safari then becomes front-most window.
This is the wrong outcome - Finder document should remain on top because that's the application I command-tabbed to.

Scenario 2
Desktop 1 has Safari open as top-most window
Desktop 2 has Safari and Finder windows open. Preview window is top-most.

• Navigate to Desktop 1
• Use Command-Tab to change to Safari (even if Safari is already the window in focus)
• Use three fingers to change from Desktop 1 to Desktop 2

=> Desktop changes to Desktop 2. Safari window shows briefly and Finder then becomes front-most window
This is the correct outcome but jarring, because the transition briefly shows Safari on Desktop 2 when it wasn't the top-most window.

Do others see these issues? Any thoughts?

 

[ebika]

I just tried to replicate both scenarios. Both scenarios work as expected for me, and I don't see the incorrect outcomes you describe. I'm on Tahoe 26.0 public beta.

 

[ohbrilliance]

I just tried to replicate both scenarios. Both scenarios work as expected for me, and I don't see the incorrect outcomes you describe. I'm on Tahoe 26.0 public beta.

Thanks for checking. That sounds promising.

Both scenarios seem to need an additional step (Command-tabbing to the application before swiping to the other space). The behaviour also seems different depending on the Applications. I've edited my original post. Can you give that a go?

Another point of note - this happens on both my work MacBook Air and personal MacBook Pro, which are set up differently from each-other.

 

[ebika]

I was able to replicate it this time, so Tahoe doesn't fix it. Have you submitted the issue using the Feedback app? If there's ever a good time for them to be reviewing issue reports it's now while they're in beta for Tahoe.

 

[ohbrilliance]

I was able to replicate it this time, so Tahoe doesn't fix it. Have you submitted the issue using the Feedback app? If there's ever a good time for them to be reviewing issue reports it's now while they're in beta for Tahoe.

Thanks again for checking and for the suggestion. I've submitted detailed feedback including screen recordings via the Feedback Assistant. Fingers-crossed these get fixed, because I find them jarring when everything else in the UI is so fluid and natural.