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Summary: This article discusses all macOS Catalina known issues with solutions. Issues like hardware or apps won't work after macOS Catalina update, Mac not turning on, and data loss are included.

Many people are indecisive to upgrade to macOS Catalina, the latest operating system by Apple. Thus, knowing possible macOS Catalina issues will help a lot before you install macOS 10.15. For example, you can't download/install macOS Catalina, apps won't work, iCloud is not available, or you have connectivity issues with yout WiFi or Bluetooth on macOS Catalina.

Therefore, this post discusses some common macOS Catalina upgrade issues and how to fix these problems.

After you download the app and move it to your Applications folder, right-click on it and select Open. After you select Open, you will see a warning that's similar to the one below.

Now, let's check the table below and see if you can find a solution to your problem.

Warning: This post will include multiple macOS Catalina problems, and some serious problems like 'Mac not booting after update' could cause data loss. Therefore, if you are facing some Mac booting issue after macOS update, it is highly recommended to recover the lost files from the unbootable Mac with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac first.

With more patchers are released and bugs are fixed, macOS 10.15 Catalina becomes better and better. But new macOS Catalina issues will never stop showing up. Thus, this article is worthy of reading as you'll know some common macOS Catalina upgrade issues, and how to address them.

1. Should I update My Mac to macOS 10.15 Catalina?

macOS Catalina is so tempting to upgrade, but you may still sit on the fence and wonder:

• Is macOS Catalina stable to use on My Mac?
• Is it worth updating to macOS Catalina?
• Will macOS Catalina damage or slow down My Mac?

More worries keep bothering you. Then, should you upgrade to macOS 10.15 Catalina on your Mac? To be honest, it's up to you as now macOS Catalina is getting less and less flaws.

If you want to try these new features mentioned in WWDC 2019, you can have a bash to install macOS Catalina. But keep one thing in mind, back up your Mac and everything before updating macOS.

If you are an conservative person who have get used to macOS Mojave or High Sierra, then just don't upgrade.

2. Can't install macOS Catalina on Mac

Normally, you can sign up to the Apple APP Store to download and install the macOS Catalina 10.15. But you could encounter problems while you are downloading or installing it.

How to fix:

If you are suffering from this problem, you probably need to check if you have enough space on the drive or volume for installation. The macOS Catalina update will take more than 4.9 GB in total.

Or you may not install to this volume because the Macintosh HD is not mounted when installing macOS Catalina, then you need to check your startup disk in Disk Utility.

Space is enough but the macOS installation couldn't be completed still? Well, you can boot your Mac into Safe Mode and reinstall macOS 10.15. This will isolate incompatible software when you update the sysem. Here is how to boot Mac in Safe Mode (also known as Single User mode).

• 1. Restart your Mac and immediately hold the Shift button.
• 2. When your Mac boot into Safe Mode, reinstall macOS 10.15 Catalina.
• 3. Reboot your Mac.

Also, you may be unable to upgrade to macOS Catalina because of the error 'macOS Catalina could not be verified' below, even though you have cleared out your content caching and re-download for times.

How to fix:

• 1. Click the Apple logo at the upper left and choose System Preferences.
• 2. Find Date & Time and open it.
• 3. Select Date & Time panel and Click the lock to make changes at lower left.
• 4. Uncheck and then recheck the 'Set date and time automatically' option and then save changes by click the lock.

Then restart the computer and proceed to download the update once again through settings and software update. Hopefully, it will resolve the issue of the update not being verified.

3. macOS Catalina runs into low disk space during installation

Chances are that you still can't install macOS Catalina even in Safe Mode. Sometimes, even though you have pretty much no personal file on this Mac and space appears to be enough, you still could fail to install this system due to low disk space warning. As a matter of fact, it's just one of the macOS Catalina problems many users would face.

However, if you are disturbed by the low space problem, you received the low space warning from the system.

How to Fix:

You can fix the low space issue is to delete some local Time Machine snapshots which were made by the system previously. However, if you are not a specialist, you are not advised to do this deletion in case of losing data. Instead, if you have backups in Time Machine, you can just downgrade the macOS Catalina to another stable one like Mojave and then restore your lost files.

Some users see an additional Macintosh HD - Data volume in the Disk Utility of macOS Catalina and regard it as an unknown issue. Indeed, it's not. APFS drive in macOS Catalina will be divided into two volumes. One is called Macintosh HD which contains the system information and is protected with read-only mode, while the other one is Macintosh HD - Data volume where your apps and files are stored.

4. Can I install the macOS 10.15 alongside macOS Mojave?

You are torn if you don't know if macOS Catalina is better than Mojave or High Sierra. Maybe, you can make a compromise between them. That is to run macOS Catalina alongside your current macOS.

You can split your hard drive into two systems and install the Catalina on a separate partition. It is feasible because macOS Catalina will reside itself in a read-only volume, and you can do this with these steps:

• 1. Open Finder and click Go at the upper left of your desktop.
• 2. Go to Utilities and choose Disk Utility.
• 3. Select the internal/startup hard disk and choose Partition at the top.
• 4. Click Partition and click on the plus button +.
• 5. Fill in a name, choose APFS format, and choose a size.
• 6. Click Apply to create a new partition.
• 7. When you move forward to install macOS Catalina, choose this partition as the installation location.

To switch between your current macOS Mojave and macOS Catalina, you can access System Preferences by clicking the Apple logo at the upper left of the desktop and select Startup Disk. Then click the lock at the lower left corner to make changes, key in the password as the system asks. Finally, select your system and restart your Mac.

5. Mac won't boot/turn on after installing macOS Catalina

If you breeze in the newest macOS and install it to your lovely Mac computer, only to find that your Mac won't turn on or stuck on the loading bar after update, or even gets stuck on Mac grey or white screen.

What a nuisance! It has to be fixed instantly because you probably are in need of this Mac. But before you go further to fix the not booting Mac, you are strongly advised to recover lost data from this unbootable Mac with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to avoid losing anything important.

Learn why Mac black screen happens and how to fix black/blue/grey/white screen and turn on your MacBook Pro/Air without problem. Read more >>

After you get your files back, stay in calm and try the following solutions to fix this unbootable Mac.

Solution 1: Check Mac hard drive with Disk Utility in macOS Recovery mode

If your Mac can't boot past the Apple logo after installing macOS 10.15, you can check the startup disk in Disk Utility in case there is any disk error.

• 1. Reboot your Mac and immediately hold Command + R to boot into macOS Recovery mode.
• 2. Release theses keys when you see the loading bar.
• 3. Select Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities menu.
• 4. Select the startup disk or the macOS volume in the left sidebar of Disk Utility.
• 5. Click First Aid at the top center and click Run to repair this disk.
• 6. When it's finished, click on Done and restart your Mac as usual.

Solution 2: Uninstall macOS Catalina or downgrade it to macOS Mojave

Also, it is possible that your Mac is not compatible with macOS 10.15, or you are not satisfied with macOS Catalina's performance. In this case, you may want to uninstall macOS Catalina from your Mac.

Then how to uninstall macOS Catalina on Mac? Can you downgrade macOS Catalina to Mojave? You can check the overall solutions to Mac is not booting up after macOS update or follow these steps to uninstall macOS Catalina.

Step 1: Completely turn off your computer.

• 1. Completely turn off your computer.
• 2. Restart your Mac and hold Command + R instantly to boot Mac into macOS Recovery Mode.

Note: If your Mac can't boot into macOS Recovery mode with Command + R, you can hold Option + Command + R or Shift + Option + Command + R at startup. It will boot into macOS Recovery over the Internet, so make sure your Mac is connected to the Internet.

• 3. Let go of the key combinations when you see the macOS Utilities menu.
• 4. Choose Disk Utility and click Continue.
• 5. Choose the Startup Disk (labeled Macintosh HD usually) and click Erase.
• 6. Format it as APFS and click on Erase.
• 7. Back to macOS Utilities menu and choose Reinstall macOS.
• 8. Click Continue and then agree to any terms and conditions. When it is completed, your Mac will restart and get back to macOS Mojave.

Check 10 tested and tried solutions to fix a Mac computer, like a MacBook Pro/Air, an iMac or a Mac mini, that won't turn on or start up normally. Read more >>

6. macOS Catalina update is stuck/frozen

You may be wondering how long time macOS Catalina will take to install because this macOS update is frozen on your Mac for hours. Many people are confronted with the similar problem that the macOS Catalina is stuck on 'Setting Up Your Mac', Screen time, or other process. It annoying and frustrating, especially after you have run out of your patience by waiting for its completion.

How to fix:

Well, if you have waited it for a very long time but nothing has changed, you can try to backup your files and reboot your Mac by holding down the power button. Hopefully, this will make your Mac go back to normal condition.

7. Sidecar errors: Service Not Supported

Even though Sidecar is the most exciting feature for many users, the Sidecar is limited to work on some Macs/iPads. That's to say, Sidecar may be not working when you mirror macOS Catalina to iPadOS. If you're unable to connect to your iPad and receive 'Sidecar errors: Service Not Supported', you need to firstly check if your iPad is installed with iPad iOS 13, then check the following list to see if your device is compatible with macOS Catalina 10.15.

Macs that are compatible with macOS Catalina:

• MacBook Pro (Mid-2012 and newer)
• MacBook Air (Mid-2012 and newer)
• MacBook (early 2015 and later)
• iMac (late 2012 or newer)
• iMac Pro (2017 or newer)
• Mac Pro (late 2013 or newer)
• Mac Mini (late 2012 or newer)

iPad models that support Sidecar

• 12.9-inch/11-inch/10.5-inch/9.7-inch iPad Pro
• iPad (5/6th generation)
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad mini 4
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• iPad Air 2

8. Apps won't work in macOS Catalina

It is possible that you install macOS Catalina on your Mac, only to find that some of your software like Microsoft Word 2011 won't run or even open in macOS 10.15 at all. Instead, you may receive a message like below to inform you that your app is not optimized for your Mac and needs to be updated.

Why? Actually, it is because macOS Catalina doesn't support 32-bit apps anymore. Apple has been phasing out 32-bit software for the last 10 years and macOS Mojave is the last one that supports 32-bit software.

How do I check if my app is 32-bit on Mac?

By default, macOS will tell you that the app is 'not optimized for your Mac' or something like that when you attempt to open a 32-bit app in macOS Catalina. However, if it doesn't give any warning but the software just won't open, you can also check your apps for 64-bit compatibility manually.

• 1. Click on the Apple logo at the top left corner and select About This Mac.
• 2. Click on the System Report….
• 3. Scroll down the context menu in the sidebar until you see the Software section.
• 4. Click on the Applications option under Software to show your applications on this Mac.
• 5. Find the target app and you will see a section titled 64-Bit (Intel).

Next to this section is either Yes or No. 'Yes' means the app is 64-bit, and 'No' means the app is 32-bit and needs to be updated.

How to fix:

Well, you can't have your cake, and eat it. If you want to upgrade your operating system to macOS Catalina which is only compatible with 64-bit software for sure, you can't use your 32-bit apps. So, you have only three options in this case and the solution is totally up to your preference.

• 1. Upgrade this software to a newer 64-bit version.
• 2. If there is no 64-bit version available for this app, find an alternative one that does the same work but is compatible with macOS 10.15.
• 3. Downgrade macOS Catalina to macOS Mojave.

Here is the overall tutorial to downgrade from macOS Catalina to macOS Mojave, or High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, etc. without data loss. Read more >>

9. macOS Catalina keeps asking for Apple ID

Some users also complain that after installing macOS Catalina, the Mac asks for updating the Apple ID settings. However, after you put in your password of Apple ID and your Mac password, the message may pop back up again and again after a few minutes.

How to fix:

You can solve this macOS Catalina bugs by saving your keychain to iCloud drive, and the following is the steps to do this.

• 1. Click on System Settings.
• 2. Choose Apple ID at the top and then choose iCloud in the context menu. It will show what is using the iCloud.
• 3. Scroll down this menu and choose Keychain.
• 4. Enter your Apple ID and your computer password a couple times as they are asked.

10. Apps icons go missing in the Finder

In macOS Catalina 10.15, you might see some icons of your apps disappearing when clicking the Applications shortcut in the Finder sidebar, only third-party applications. This will happen if you used Migration Assistant to migrate your data to a Mac running macOS Catalina.

How to fix:

• 1. Open the Finder on your Mac.
• 2. Right-click on Finder at the upper left corner of your desktop, and then choose Preferences.
• 3. In the Sidebar tab, select the Applications favorite, then remove the Applications shortcut from the sidebar that displays incorrect results.

This article will show you how to recover lost/missing/disappeared Documents Folder and other files on macOS Catalina and earlier with ease. Read more >>

11. WiFi/Bluetooth is not working on macOS Catalina

Can't access the Internet after installing macOS Catalina? WiFi/Blutooth is not working or not available? Check the following methods to fix such issues.

How to fix macOS Catalina WiFi not working issues:

Method 1: Simply click on WiFi in the menu bar and turn WiFi Off. And then wait for 10-15 seconds and reconnect to it. Try this for several times if it doesn't fix the WiFi problem after the first try.

Method 2: Restart your Mac in Safe Mode and see if you can access the Internect. If you can, it should be some incompatible apps or extensions that hinder the WiFi in normal work, and you could fix such WiFi not workign issue by uninstalling or updating your software and drivers.

Method 3: Create a new Network Location simply.

• 1. Click the Apple icon at the upper left, and then choose System Preferences.
• 2. Find Network and then create a new Network location which usually show as Automatic.
• 3. Choose Edit Locations, click on the + button to create a new location, and then click Done.
• 4. Re-join a known working WiFi network.

How to fix macOS Catalina Blutooth issues:

• 1. Open Finder, click on Go in the top menu, and then click Go to Folder....
• 2. Type in /Library/Preferences and click Go.
• 3. Find the file com.apple.Bluetooth.plist, copy this file to another location and then delete the original one.
• 4. Restart your Mac and reconnect to your Bluetooth devices.

12. iCloud is not available after macOS update

As you know, iCloud is extremely helpful to share folders between different devices. Sometimes, it can even restore some lost files after an update.

However, after macOS Catalina was released, you might see the message 'Couldn't connect to iCloud' when creating a new Pages, Numbers, or Keynote document in a shared folder. When confronted with this problem, you can simply close this document and then reopen it.

Furthermore, you could meet some other iCloud issues.

• iCloud Drive fails to automatically download all files after macOS Catalina update
• Multiple empty Application libraries within iCloud Drive after update

How to fix:

• 1. Download the desired files from iCloud drive manually and individually.
• 2. Safely remove the empty folders from iCloud.
• 3. Restart your device and start everything from scratch.

13. External hard drives/mouse/keyboard is not working in macOS Catalina

It happens that Mac won't recognize your external hard drive after installing macOS 10.15 Catalina. What's worse, this issue also affects some accessories like keyboard, mouse and printer drivers, etc. Why?

For the most part, it is still the 32-bit driver that makes your external drives not working.

How to fix:

• 1. Simply update these drivers in App Store.
• 2. Contact the developer in their support page to ask for a driver update.

The reasons for Mac not recognizing external hard drive are varied, so check this guide to fix 'Mac doesn't recognize external hard drive' issue easily. Read more >>

14. macOS Catalina makes Mac slow/overheating

As for a large number of exciting features are introduced in macOS 10.15 Catalina, some people complain that Catalina has slowed their screens down. What's worse, it makes their computers overheating, and even causes some battery problems.

It is annoying, especially for some game geeks and office workers who need a fluent computer eagerly. Thus, try the solutions below to calm you and your Mac down.

Solution 1: Uncheck Login Items as many as possible

Even though macOS is designed for better performance, too much unnecessary items at login will lower you Mac. What's worse, these login items could make your Mac stuck on loading bar when you boot your Mac. So, just disable it as the following steps.

• 1. Click on the Apple logo at the top left corner and select System Preferences.
• 2. Choose Users and Groups in the menu and click on your account in the left sidebar.
• 3. Click Login Items in the right column to show a list of programs that automatically start up when you turn on your Mac.
• 4. Select as much software as you can and click on the minus - button at the bottom of this window.

If this doesn't fix your problem when you reboot your Mac, try the next solution.

Solution 2: Reset System Management Controller (SMC)

Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) is a feasible solution if the macOS Catalina is not working normally, which helps to solve many power and hardware related issues. If you are suffering from one of these problems below, resetting SMC is particularly effective.

1. Mac computer is overheating
2. Power management and battery problems
3. Video and external displays not working
4. Mac doesn't respond when you press the power button
5. General performance and functionality problems

How to reset SMC on Mac:

• 1. Shut down the computer completely and make sure your Mac is connected with power.
• 2. Using the built-in keyboard, press and hold the Shift + Control + Option + Power Button keys at the same time for about 10 seconds. If you have a MacBook Pro with Touch ID, the Touch ID button is also the power button.
• 3. Release all the keys together and press the power button to start up your computer.
• 4. The boot time after resetting a machine's SMC will be a bit longer than usual, that is normal. When the computer is booting up, you can customize your Mac settings according to your need again.

15. Files, documents, or folders get lost after update

You may lose files after macOS update. Some users' desktop becomes empty, and some other people find that they can't locate some photos in Photos library. It's a terrible feeling when you can't find important documents, photos, emails, etc. after macOS update. So, you'd better not risk your work Mac with the every new Apple operating system.

Lost important data after updating to macOS Catalina? Files on their MacBook or iMac are gone? Click this post to get solutions to recover them. Read more >>

But since you have lost files after macOS update, the most urgent thing probably is to recover these files. You can try these 3 solutions to get them back.

Solution 1: Recover files from iCloud

Actually, if you 're using iCloud Drive to sync Desktop & Documents folders, it is rather easy to restore documents, photos, etc.

Just visit www.icloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID to recover your files now.

Solution 2: Recover files from Time Machine backups

No data backup in iCloud? Don't worry, because you have another feasible way to recover lost/disappeared files.

Ta-ta, that is Time Machine. If you have backed up your Mac with Time Machine before update, it's easy to recover lost files then. Now, let's see how to recover files from Time Machine backups.

• 1. Connect this Time Machine backup external hard drive to your Mac.
• 2. Click on the Apple logo at the top left corner and select System Preferences.
• 3. Find Time Machine, open it, and then check Show Time Machine in menu bar.
• 4. Locate Time Machine at the upper right menu, click its icon and choose Enter Time Machine.
• 5. Look through the Time Machine backup folders in the left sidebar and locate the target files according to time.
• 6. Select files you want to recover and click Restore.

Solution 3: Recover lost data with Mac data recovery software

If you haven't backed up the lost/missing files with Time Machine, then you can look for a Mac data recovery tool to recover files from the Mac computer after macOS Catalina update.

You can use iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover lost data from Mac computers.

iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is user-friendly Mac data recovery software, which can recover photos, videos, music files, word files, emails, etc. from Mac computers. It is one of the most powerful APFS data recovery tools that can recover files from formatted, corrupted, unreadable, unmountable APFS partitions/drives. What's more, it also can retrieve deleted/lost files from emptied Trash and supports external hard drive data recovery, SD card data recovery, USB flash drive data recovery, etc.

Tutorial to recover lost data from macOS Catalina with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac

• 1. Download iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on your Mac and launch it.

• 2. Select the drive/volume you lost data from and click Next to scan for files on this drive.
• 3. Select files you want to get back. You can preview the target files by double-clicking.
• 4. Click Recover to get lost/missing files back.

16. External drive is read-only in macOS Catalina

Another problem many users are facing is that external drives are read-only in macOS Catalina. This could include hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. As a result, you will be unable to write to, transfer, edit, delete files on the read-only drive in macOS Catalina. As a matter of fact, this problem results from the NTFS file system which Apple does not officially allow write support, and it not only occurs to macOS 10.15 Catalina but other Mac operating systems.

How to fix external drive read-only in macOS Catalina:

If your external drives are read-only in macOS and you're unable to write to NTFS drives, you can download an NTFS for Mac driver like iBoysoft NTFS for Mac. This tool can mount NTFS drives on Mac in read-write mode, granting you full access to NTFS drives in macOS so that you can create, save, copy, paste, delete and modify files on this drive.

Best NTFS Driver for Mac - iBoysoft NTFS for Mac

• Mount NTFS volumes in read-write mode and unmount with single click
• Check and repair NTFS disk errors on Mac
• Erase data on NTFS disks easily
• Reformat exFAT/FAT32/HFS+ disk to NTFS on Mac
• Support macOS 11/10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8

Read also:

If you're faced with a macOS Catalina issue that is not covered in this article or you have other tested and trusted solutions, kindly update us via [email protected]

We've got a few reasons and fixes.

So how to fix a slow Mac

All Macs begin to slow down with age — MacBook Pro, iMac, it doesn’t matter. Performing several heavy tasks at a time, your Mac may get slower, and it’s okay. Although, when you’re facing unresponsive windows and slow load time more often these days, your Mac definitely needs a boost.

Why is my Mac running slow?

One explanation is modern browsers are getting more memory-demanding. Chrome alone is an astronomical wormhole that recycles tons of user data per second. The second reason is apps and our increasing app usage. These shiny new tools want a chunk of your Mac’s memory (which, in the end, is finite). And finally, our hard drives are getting full as we create more videos and photos. In a nutshell, the reason for any Mac getting slow is data overload.
We’ve found 20 best ways on how to make your Mac faster. Some work better than others (depending on your Mac) but we’ll show you all of them and you can decide for yourself how to make your slow Mac faster.

1. Your hard drive is getting full

Nothing slows down a Mac more than having too much on your hard drive. If you can lighten the load on your Mac, you’re sure to see an increase in speed.

How to fix it: Clean up your hard drive

Unfortunately, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Cleaning up old movie files, organizing your Desktop, and searching your Mac for old files you don’t need is the easy part. However, the hard part is cleaning up your system, and figuring out all the stuff that can be safely removed for more space. The best option is to use a Mac cleanup tool, like CleanMyMac X. It cleans up your entire Mac, the easy stuff and the hard stuff. It knows what to clean and where to clean, and is incredibly safe to use. It removes caches, logs, language packs, and more to help you speed up your Mac — Click here to download it free!

2. Your storage is not optimized

Apple developers have already anticipated the problem with slow running Macs. You can easily find their helpful recommendations on managing and optimizing your Mac’s storage. Here’s how you can reveal some useful advice:

1. Click the Apple menu and select About This Mac.
2. Here choose the Storage tab and select Manage.
3. In the new window that opens, you will see some suggestions.

How to fix it: Manage your files and data

You can transfer your files and data to iCloud to save up some space on your Mac. Just click Store in iCloud and choose files you want to save to iCloud storage. Another useful tip is to optimize storage on your Mac by removing large files such as Apple TV films and TV shows. To make sure your Bin is not cluttered with old junk, you can set up Empty Bin Automatically. You could also give a swift look at your documents and remove the items that are piling up. You can do this by clicking Reduce Clutter.

3. Outdated macOS

Your Mac’s OS is extremely important to how it performs. An older OS typically runs slower — that’s why Apple releases new macOS every year or so.

How to fix it: Update your macOS

Having the latest version of macOS is good practice (the latest version right now is macOS Catalina 10.15). Don’t think of it as adding more junk to your already slow Mac — think of it as new software that makes your Mac run more smoothly. So, to update your macOS and speed up your Mac, go to the Apple menu and click About This Mac. Then click Software Update. If a new version is available, update software and you’re good to go!

If for some reason your Mac is running slow after macOS Catalina update, don’t panic. It could happen that disk permissions are broken. You can repair them with CleanMyMac X. Download the app and go to Maintenance tab, click “Repair Disk Permissions”.

4. Startup is slowing you down

When you start your Mac, a lot of things load up in the background. Not only do they slow down your startup, but they continue to do so the whole time you’re on your Mac.

How to fix it: Manage your startup items

Give your Mac a clean start and make macOS run faster. When you don’t manage your startup Items, it’s like making your Mac run a sprint with a gigantic, book-filled backpack — it’s going to take a bit longer for it to get moving, right? Lighten the load on your Mac.

You can do all routine action we'll discuss below yourself or just download CleanMyMac X and get faster Mac in a couple of minutes.

Get a fast Mac startup by removing unnecessary apps. To turn off Login Items go to your System Preferences > Users & Groups, and then click on your username. Now, click on Login Items, click on the name of an application you don't need to launch during startup, and then click the '-' symbol located below the list to the left; this will remove the application from the list — the fewer applications on the list, the better. This should help out a ton with speeding up your slow Mac.

5. Too much running in the background

When you’ve got too much running in the background, your Mac can’t even handle simple tasks.

How to fix it: End processes with Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor will show you what processes are using up your system resources. Quitting an app that’s taking up a lot of processing power could make a huge difference in speeding up your slow Mac. Open up your Applications folder and then your Utilities folder. Here you’ll find the Activity Monitor, open it. Check out the list of apps and processes that happening on your Mac in real-time. Pretty complex, eh?

From here you can see what’s causing trouble with your Mac. Click on the Memory tab at the top, then the Memory filter at the top of the list; this sorts the programs by the amount of space they’re taking up on your Mac RAM. The higher the number, the more power they need. Stop an app from operating by clicking on the app in the list and then clicking the gray “x” icon located at the top-left corner of the window. Don’t remove anything you don’t know!

6. You’ve got old hardware

Sadly, your Mac may just be too old to fix. When your Mac hardware gets too old, your speed drops drastically and you can do little to fix it without taking some serious measures.

How to fix it: Upgrade your hardware

You’ve done all the stuff above and your Mac is still running slowly. It’s time to look into upgrading your hardware. Unfortunately, this can be a bit pricey and some Macs are beyond help (kidding… some just can’t be upgraded).

The most straightforward way is to replace your current hard drive with an SSD disk. You should shoot for at least 240-256 GB of storage space. You will need to open the bottom case of your MacBook and replace it with the newly-bought SSD drive.

Additionally, look into buying more RAM. Something around 4 GB is no longer enough by 2020 standards. You can buy China-produced 8 GB RAM card for around $30. If your MacBook originally had 4 GB of RAM, this should make it 12 GB in total, which is a pretty solid amount nowadays.

7. You have too many unused apps

As your Mac may be behaving slowly due to storage issues, it’s good to check whether you have some free space left. Unused apps are the biggest space-wasters. All of us download applications that seem helpful and exciting at first, but turn to clutter up our disk instead of being used frequently.

How to fix it: Uninstall unused apps

So, it’s time to get rid of those or at least honestly tell yourself which ones you don’t use anymore.

1. Open Finder and navigate to the Go menu.
2. From the drop-down list, select Applications.
3. You will see all applications installed on your Mac. Organize the list by size to reveal the largest apps.
4. Right-click on the app and select Move to Bin.

Mind the fact that if you delete the apps, the chances are that some leftover files will remain on your Mac. That’s why it’s a good idea to clean your machine of such remnants with dedicated tools like CleanMyMac X. Its Uninstaller module shows how many apps you have and gathers all leftovers in one tab – so you can quickly delete them.

If you don’t want to delete apps, you can quit them and therefore stop your CPU from wasting the resources on this app.

1. Open Activity Monitor (Finder > Applications > Utilities).
2. Click %CPU to sort processes in descending order.
3. Select the app you don’t use.
4. To quit the apps or processes, press the “X” sign in the top left corner of the window.
5. Click Force Quit.

Now, these apps won't be using your Mac's power in the background.

8. Cluttered desktop

If you use your desktop as a file dump, it’s high time for a cleanup. Not many people know this, but every desktop icon is, in fact, a little active window that your macOS has to render and process. If there are myriads of icons, no wonder your Mac is slow.

How to fix it: Plow through your desktop items

To make your Mac run faster, organize files on your desktop into separate folders. Right-click on your desktop and select Use Stacks. Then, you can move them to another location. Never hesitate to send to Trash things you rarely use, like apps you had downloaded months ago. Cleaning the desktop isn’t the funniest job in the world, but it does pay off in terms of adding speed to your Mac.

9. Browser is full of junk

Most of us use our Macs online 90% of the time. In other words, if your browser is slow, your Mac will be slow too. Even the fastest machine can be dragged down by hundreds of opened tabs and extensions.

How to fix it: Remove extensions to make your Mac run faster

Hidden add-ons, plug-ins, and extensions often come disguised as free software. You download something and the next moment see weird search bars, pop-ups, and torrents of advertisements on your screen. Of course, there are perfectly legit extensions that extend what your browser can do, but every extension weighs on your Mac’s speed. And lastly, such tools may stealthily collect your data.

How to remove Chrome extensions manually

1. Launch Chrome.
2. Click a three-dot icon in the top-right corner.
3. Click More tools > Extensions.

Then you’ll have a nice overview of all Chrome add-ons you have installed. You can either disable extensions or delete them completely, which is preferable especially when you don’t recognize what it is.

How to remove Safari extensions manually

1. Launch Safari.
2. Click Safari > Preferences in the upper menu.
3. Choose the Extensions tab.
4. Remove the extensions you don’t need.

The rule of 9 tabs

To make your Mac run faster while in the browser, minimize the number of opened tabs. Many IT consultants recommend having no more than 9 open tabs at a time. This way, you won’t overload the browser, and the title for each tab will be perfectly visible.

10. Lots of outdated cache files

Cache files come in many flavors: system cache, user cache, app-generated caches and more. User caches (tied to your user account) make up for about 70% of junk on your Mac. The manual deletion method involves a bit of clicking and typing. So here you are.

How to fix it: Trim down caches on your slow Mac

1. Open Finder and click “Go to Folder” in the Go menu.
2. Type in ~/Library/Caches and press Enter
3. Locate a cache folder tree
4. Go into each folder and delete its contents
5. Empty the Trash bin

Note: It’s not recommended to remove the folders themselves, but only their insides.

Now it is time to delete System caches. The path is the same but this time you should type in:

/Library/Caches (without a ~ tilde sign)

Once again, the method is the same: you locate the main cache folder and drill down into its sub-folders removing all the content stored there. Before you start, you can preemptively back up the Caches folder as meddling with cache folders can be risky. For a bulletproof solution, you can clean out caches with CleanMyMac X - it was made just for this purpose, though it has lots of other uses. Download CleanMyMac X for free, install it and click Smart Scan. From there, you will be able to delete cache and temporary files.

The lesser-known trick to fix Mac running slow

If you followed the tip from the previous section and downloaded CleanMyMac X, you should be able to perform another trick which proved quite effective on most Macs. From our experience, it does boost up the performance of many applications.

1. Launch CleanMyMac X.
2. Click Maintenance tab.
3. Tick “Run Maintenance Scripts”

Running this command helps to “polish up” the performance of the deep-level system services. What it does is rebuilds system logs and reorganizes select databases on your Mac. Try it and see how your Mac is doing.
In the same app, there are also controls for your “Hung Applications” and “Heavy Memory Consumers” — use them to disable your biggest memory hoggers.

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11. Your user profile grew out of proportion

All your user files and applications may over time become a heavy burden for your macOS. This is tied to your user account. It simply contains too many caches, cross-links, user logs — more than your Mac can chew.

How to fix it: Give yourself a “profile refresh”

Though it sounds a bit radical, you can activate a new user profile. It is absolutely safe and is a bit like starting a new life. You will have to copy all the needed app files such as Preferences to the new user. As a result, your Mac may become much snappier.

To create a new user:

• Click on the Apple logo
• Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups
• Click the Unlock icon
• Now, click “+” to add another user

To transfer your important files from one account to another, you need to drop them into the Shared folder which is found on your hard drive. To find it, click on a Finder window, then navigate to Go > Computer > Macintosh HD > Users. Voila, you’ve found the Shared folder!

12. Visual overload

Animations and rich graphics are extremely resource-hungry. We are not suggesting you should switch your Mac back to 1984-style simplicity. But in case of a slow Mac, the less is sometimes more.

How to fix it: Cut down on animations

Open System Preferences > Dock

Disable the following items by unticking:

• Magnification
• Animate opening applications
• Automatically hide and show the Dock

Click 'Minimize windows into application icon' and change Genie effect to Scale. The scale is a much simpler zoom and less taxing on memory.

13. SMC-settings are corrupted

SMC stands for System Management Controller and manages a whole range of low-level functions of your Mac: fans, lights, power, system volume, and other parameters. Quite often SMC preferences get broken and your Mac gets slow.

How to fix it: Reset SMC to factory settings

If your Mac’s battery is removable:

1. Turn off your Mac.
2. Take out the battery.
3. Press and hold the Power button for a few seconds.
4. Reinstall the battery.
5. Press the Power button and start your Mac in a normal fashion.

For non-removable batteries:

1. Shut down the Mac.
2. Press Shift + Control + Option keys and the Power button simultaneously.
3. Hold down these keys for 10 seconds.
4. Let go of the keys.
5. Press the Power button to start your Mac.

How to reset SMC on iMac, Mac Pro and Mac Mini

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Unplug a power cord.
3. Wait for about 15 seconds.
4. Plug the power cord back in.
5. Wait a few seconds and turn on your Mac using the Power button.

14. You are out of free RAM

RAM stands for Random Access Memory. This memory is like a fuel for all your apps. That is the reason you often get “Your system is out application memory” message. One solution is to physically upgrade your RAM — a good idea if you have no more than 4 GB of RAM. But that is a time-consuming operation that will chip off a few bucks off your wallet. Luckily, there is a shortcut.

How to fix it: Flush your RAM using Terminal

You can perform this operation if your system urgently needs a fresh memory. This is often the case with media converters and video editors that consume all the RAM they can get. A native macOS tool, Terminal has a special command to release your available RAM.

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1. Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
2. Now copy-paste the following command into the Terminal window: sudo purge
3. Enter your user password to confirm.
4. Hopefully, you’ll immediately see the results.
   

A safer option is to free up RAM using CleanMyMac X’s Menu App. This service app shows you how heavily is your RAM loaded and helps you free it up with just one button click.

15. Slow keyboard response

An often-reported lag that could seriously alter your productivity. Sometimes, when you type, your keyboard would freeze for a fraction of a second. This lag usually affects the Notes app as well as Chrome. The issue is reportedly caused by outdated system caches that are responsible for keyboard performance.

How to fix it: Start your Mac in the Safe mode

1. Shut down your computer
2. Restart your Mac
3. Hold down the Shift key
4. Let go of the key when the login window appears
5. You’re in the Safe mode — take a note of your keyboard’s response
6. Restart your Mac in a normal way

Entering the Safe mode erases lots of unneeded caches and repairs some software paths inside your macOS. Your Mac should perform better if you’ve followed the steps correctly.

16. Your Mac wakes up slowly

If you don’t use your Mac for a while, it will eventually succumb into a standby mode to save some energy. Just as with humans, some Macs are more difficult to wake up than others — no matter what keys you are pressing your screen is still black.

How to fix it: Try a special Terminal hack

Normally, the standby mode activates after 3 hours of no operation. You can prolong this time by using a command in the Terminal. What it does is change the standby threshold to 24 hours so your Mac takes a quick nap rather falls into a deep sleep.

1. Open the Terminal application.
2. Paste in the following command: sudo pmset -a standbydelay 86400
3. Enter your system password.

In order to reverse it, you will need to change the number in the above command to 10800. Bookmark this article so you don’t forget!

17. Broken or conflicting permissions

Files on your Mac have permissions that determine which applications and services are allowed to access these files. Over time, permission problems occur, causing your macOS to lag, freeze and even crash.

How to fix it: Repair disk permissions

macOS is able to address broken and conflicting permissions via the Disk Utility application (Applications/Utilities). Once in Disk Utility, you need to highlight your startup disk and click on the First Aid tab. Now click on the Run button, then press Continue and your Mac will scour your drive, finding and fixing permissions so that next time an application needs that file, your Mac can find it immediately.

Note: Users with El Capitan OS X will notice that this option is not available anymore. This is because Apple have added SIP (System Integrity Protection), which automatically repairs disk permissions. However, not all apps receive these automatic repairs.

CleanMyMac X is able to repair all disk permissions thanks to its Maintenance Module. With CleanMyMac X you also gain the ability to run other powerful scripts that will optimize your Mac in a number of other areas as well.

To fix broken and conflicting permissions with CleanMyMac X:

• Download CleanMyMac X — a link to a free edition of the app
• Click Maintenance tab > Choose Repair Disk Permissions

The utility will automatically take care of the rest. Fixing conflicting and broken permissions doesn’t get any easier than with CleanMyMac X.

18. Piles of large and old files

There are two places that usually become “data dumps” on anybody’s Mac. That’s Downloads and Trash folders. As an outcome, your drive space shrinks and performance drops.

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How to fix it: Clean up Downloads and Trash folders

Right-click on Trash bin and choose Empty the Trash. Now, go to your Downloads and sort files by size. There you’ll probably encounter things you hardly remember downloading, like old movies or photo albums.

• Search for .DMG files in Downloads

• Move your media files to iCloud
• Transfer data to an external drive
• Remove duplicate files and folders

The good solution to remove duplicate content is an app called Gemini 2. It can tell copies from originals and even locate look-alike files (not exactly identical). Give it a spin — the download is free.

19. Too many open windows

If you didn’t know, the Finder is very memory-demanding. Unlike Windows, windows in Finder often overlap and go into the background. This is true for Preview, Mail, and many other apps. So you’re faced with dozens of open windows without even knowing where they are located.

How to fix it: Click “Merge All Windows”

This lesser-known trick has been hiding in plain sight and will soon become your best weapon against windows overload. “Merge All Windows” works for Finder as well as Preview. You can find it inside the Window menu in the upper bar.

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• Click Finder
• Click Window
• Click “Merge All Windows”

See what happened? All your scattered windows now joined together in one. From there you can close them one by one thus saving your precious memory resources.

20. Your photo library is too heavy

How many gigabytes of photos are there on your drive? 5 GB, 10 GB, have any idea? That’s exactly the point. We seldom bother to check how many photos we have collected over the years. In any case, there will be more than you expect. This results in a lagging computer because your hard drive space is quickly vanishing.

How to fix it: Move your pics to an external drive

Not only does this get you a few gigabytes of extra space, but it also motivates you to put your photo library in order. Better late than never. You may transfer your photo library to Google Drive or DropBox, or move it to separate storage. How to do it:

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1. Quit Photos
2. Go the external drive in the Finder to choose a new storage place.
3. In a new Finder window, locate your current Photos library. It is usually located in Users > [username] > Pictures.
4. Drag and drop your library to its new destination.

After your library is copied and you’ve checked that it opens from the new destination you may delete your current library to save disk space.

Final thoughts on how to fix Mac running slow

So we have run over the main methods to speed up a slow Mac. They all boil down to one simple idea: give your Mac some space to breathe. Eventually, any Mac is going to fill up with all kinds of garbage that's consuming resources, memory and disk space. You can speed up your Mac either manually or use an app like CleanMyMac X (which does 80% of things we’ve described in this article). More realistically, you will devise your own mix of automatic and manual solutions that will bring your Mac back to speed again.

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