Sonoma is now two major versions behind the current release. That does not make it a bad operating system, and it does not mean your Mac is doomed. Plenty of people run perfectly good workflows on Sonoma: older hardware that cannot upgrade, apps that have not been tested on Tahoe, or simply a preference for a known-working setup over the uncertainty of a major upgrade.
But two years of accumulated use does take a toll. Login items multiply, memory pressure creeps upward, and background services that did not exist at launch are now running quietly in the background. This guide covers what is still causing slowness on Sonoma in 2026, what the Sonoma-specific issues are, and what to actually do this week.
Why people are still on Sonoma in 2026
The simplest reason is hardware. Macs from 2017 to 2019 cannot run Tahoe, and some users on 2020 Intel models find the newer OS noticeably heavier. If your machine is at the edge of supported hardware, staying on Sonoma is often the more comfortable choice.
App compatibility is the second reason. Professional tools in audio production, video editing, scientific computing, and security research can take a year or more to certify against a new macOS release. If your workflow depends on one of those tools, waiting is not laziness; it is common sense.
And some people are simply on the "if it ain't broke" philosophy. Sonoma works. It handles the daily workflow. The visual redesign in Tahoe holds no appeal. That is a reasonable position, even if Apple would prefer otherwise.
Whatever the reason, the diagnostic below applies equally to all of you.
The Sonoma-specific issues that never got patched
Most of Sonoma's major bugs were resolved in the 14.3 and 14.4 point releases. But a handful of issues have persisted through to the end of Sonoma's active development cycle.
Safari memory accumulation on heavy tab loads. Sonoma's version of Safari can hold onto memory from closed tabs longer than expected, particularly on sites that use complex JavaScript frameworks. The practical fix is to quit and relaunch Safari periodically rather than leaving it open for days at a time. This is less pronounced on Sequoia and later, where Apple reworked how WebContent processes are managed.
Spotlight re-indexing after security updates. Several Sonoma security patches triggered Spotlight to partially re-index, which could cause disk and CPU spikes lasting several hours after applying the update. If you applied a Sonoma update recently and things felt slow immediately after, this is likely why. It finishes on its own; you cannot meaningfully speed it up, but restarting your Mac once tends to let it complete faster.
Continuity Camera background activity. Sonoma introduced Continuity Camera, which lets you use your iPhone as a webcam. Even when not in active use, the related background process can hold onto memory in certain configurations. If you never use this feature, you can disable it in System Settings under General, then AirPlay and Handoff, by turning off Continuity Camera.
For a broader look at what happens to Macs after a macOS update, this guide covers the full picture.
The general slowdown causes: login items, Spotlight rebuild, swap thrash
These are not Sonoma-specific, but they are the most common causes of slowness on any Mac that has been running the same OS for a year or two.
Login items. Every app you install has the opportunity to add a background helper that launches at login. Most of them ask, but many do not, or they bury the option in a preference you never checked. After two years on Sonoma, you may have a dozen helpers running that you have forgotten about. Go to System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions. Anything in that list that you do not recognise or actively use can be removed. Each one you remove is memory and CPU time returned to the things you actually care about.
Spotlight index fragmentation. Spotlight maintains an index of every file on your Mac. Over time, as files are created, moved, and deleted, that index can become less efficient. A forced re-index clears this. Open Terminal, type sudo mdutil -E /, press Return, enter your password, and let it run. Spotlight will be slower for an hour or two while it rebuilds, then return to normal. If your Mac felt slow during heavy file searches, this often fixes it.
Swap thrash. When macOS runs out of physical RAM, it writes inactive memory to your SSD and reads it back when needed. This is called swap. On a Mac with 8 GB of RAM running several apps, swap can activate often, and while Apple Silicon SSDs are fast, they are not as fast as RAM. The result is moments of hesitation when switching apps or opening new windows. You can check this in Activity Monitor (Command-Space, type "Activity Monitor", press Return, click the Memory tab). Look at the Swap Used figure at the bottom. If it is above 2 GB regularly, your Mac is swapping more than is ideal. For more on what this means, this explanation of memory pressure is the clearest starting point.
An older macOS is not slower by definition. It is just running on hardware and habits that have aged into memory pressure.
The "should I upgrade to Tahoe?" question: an honest framework
This is the question underneath every Sonoma slowness conversation in 2026. Here is an honest way to think about it.
Upgrade if: your Mac is Apple Silicon (M1 or newer), you have 16 GB of RAM or more, and your critical apps have published Tahoe compatibility notes. Tahoe on modern Apple Silicon hardware is fast, and Sonoma's security update cadence will slow further over the next year. Upgrading now, while Tahoe's x.1 patches have settled in, is a comfortable window.
Wait if: you depend on one or more apps that have not confirmed Tahoe support. Check the developer's release notes or support page before upgrading. The week before a major project deadline is not the time to discover that your audio interface driver does not work on Tahoe.
Stay if: you are on an Intel Mac and Sonoma is running adequately. Tahoe is available for Intel Macs and is the last macOS that ever will be, but the Liquid Glass visual redesign is more demanding than Sonoma's interface on older graphics hardware. If Sonoma is working, there is no compelling reason to take the performance hit. You will still receive security patches for Sonoma for some time. See this guide to Tahoe performance for a fuller picture of what upgrading means for older hardware.
Apple's macOS support lifecycle page lists which versions are still receiving security updates, which is worth checking before making any decision.
What to actually do this week: a 5-step checklist
If your Sonoma Mac is slow right now and you want to fix it rather than upgrade, work through these five steps in order. Each one takes less than ten minutes.
1. Audit your login items. Go to System Settings, then General, then Login Items and Extensions. Remove anything you do not recognise or do not need. Restart after. This is the highest-impact step for most Macs that have been running Sonoma for a year or more.
2. Check memory pressure. Open Activity Monitor, click the Memory tab, and look at the Memory Pressure graph. If it is green most of the time, memory is not your bottleneck. If it is yellow or red, note which processes are using the most memory and consider quitting the ones you are not actively using.
3. Check your disk. Go to Apple menu, About This Mac, More Info, then Storage. If your disk is more than 85% full, clear some space. A near-full disk slows macOS's ability to manage temporary files and virtual memory, which affects everything.
4. Force a Spotlight re-index. Open Terminal and run sudo mdutil -E /. This clears and rebuilds the Spotlight index. Things will be slower for a couple of hours while it rebuilds, then noticeably snappier for searches.
5. Apply any pending Sonoma updates. Go to System Settings, General, Software Update. Even if Sonoma is no longer receiving feature updates, Apple still ships security and stability patches. Installing the latest available Sonoma point release is worth doing before concluding that your Mac is fundamentally slow.
If you have worked through all five and memory pressure is still yellow or red regularly, you are at the point where either upgrading macOS or adding more RAM (on Intel Macs) is the honest answer. On Apple Silicon, RAM is not upgradeable after purchase, so managing what you run simultaneously is the main lever you have.