Menubar flashes during AltTab launch, on Dark Mode

[alt-tab-macos-bot]

This issue was opened by a bot after a user submitted feedback through the in-app form.

Message:

On macOS Monterey 12.0.1, with first Apple Silicon supported version of the AltTab, it makes topbar (menubar) white for approx. one second when started.

Debug profile

• App version: 6.28.0
• App preferences:
  • MSAppCenter310AppCenterUserDefaultsMigratedKey: 1
  • MSAppCenter310CrashesUserDefaultsMigratedKey: 1
  • MSAppCenterInstallId: F8166250-68BA-4524-A7F7-A25A094BEFB7
  • MSAppCenterPastDevices: {length = 1150, bytes = 0x62706c69 73743030 d4010203 04050607 ... 00000000 0000038a }
  • MSAppCenterSessionIdHistory: {length = 460, bytes = 0x62706c69 73743030 d4010203 04050607 ... 00000000 00000156 }
  • MSAppCenterUserIdHistory: {length = 455, bytes = 0x62706c69 73743030 d4010203 04050607 ... 00000000 00000151 }
  • NSStatusItem Preferred Position Item-0: 574
  • NSWindow Frame SUStatusFrame: 520 567 400 135 0 0 1440 875
  • NSWindow Frame SUUpdateAlert: 410 369 620 398 0 0 1440 875
  • SUAutomaticallyUpdate: 1
  • SUEnableAutomaticChecks: 1
  • SUHasLaunchedBefore: 1
  • SULastCheckTime: 2021-11-24 08:45:11 +0000
  • SUUpdateGroupIdentifier: 4126523665
  • SUUpdateRelaunchingMarker: 0
  • holdShortcut: ⌘
  • mouseHoverEnabled: false
  • preferencesVersion: 6.28.0
  • showOnScreen: 0
  • theme: 0
  • updatePolicy: 2
  • windowMaxWidthInRow: 30
• Applications: 38
• Windows: 5
  • {isFullscreen: false, isWindowlessApp: true, isMinimized: false, isHidden: true, isTabbed: false, isOnAllSpaces: false, shouldShowTheUser: true, spaceId: 18446744073709551615, spaceIndex: 9223372036854775807}
  • {isFullscreen: false, isWindowlessApp: true, isMinimized: false, isHidden: false, isTabbed: false, isOnAllSpaces: false, shouldShowTheUser: true, spaceId: 18446744073709551615, spaceIndex: 9223372036854775807}
  • {isFullscreen: false, isWindowlessApp: false, isMinimized: true, isHidden: false, isTabbed: false, isOnAllSpaces: false, shouldShowTheUser: true, spaceId: 3, spaceIndex: 1}
  • {isFullscreen: false, isWindowlessApp: false, isMinimized: false, isHidden: false, isTabbed: false, isOnAllSpaces: false, shouldShowTheUser: true, spaceId: 3, spaceIndex: 1}
  • {isFullscreen: false, isWindowlessApp: false, isMinimized: false, isHidden: false, isTabbed: false, isOnAllSpaces: false, shouldShowTheUser: true, spaceId: 3, spaceIndex: 1}
• OS version: Version 12.0.1 (Build 21A559)
• OS architecture: arm64
• Locale: en_TR (current)
• Spaces: 4
• Dark mode: Dark
• "Displays have separate Spaces": checked
• Hardware model: MacBookPro17,1
• Screens: 1
  • {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, width: 1440.0, height: 900.0}
• CPU model: Apple M1
• Memory size: 17,18 GB
• Active CPU count: 8
• Current CPU frequency: nil
• Resource utilization:
  • CPU: 0.0%
  • Memory: 77M+
  • Threads count: 18

[validatedev]

The feedback is mine. Interestingly, it does not reproducible every time. I'll share the video if I can capture it.

[lwouis]

Yes, please share a video 👍

When AltTab is started, it uses a private API to teleport all windows onto the current Space, then teleports them back. It can create a flash of some sort. I've never seen the menubar flash white though. That may be new to Monterey?

The long-term fix to avoid needing this hack is discussed in #922

[validatedev]

Yes, please share a video 👍

When AltTab is started, it uses a private API to teleport all windows onto the current Space, then teleports them back. It can create a flash of some sort. I've never seen the menubar flash white though. That may be new to Monterey?

The long-term fix to avoid needing this hack is discussed in #922

Yes, it's something like flashing, but for menubar. I'll share the related video as soon as possible.

[validatedev]

Link of the video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pPnJhibS-0OZ_BiMVMbUTZhFZlasj0n4/view?usp=sharing The interesting thing is that it wasn't happening while using the Intel version of the AltTab.

[lwouis]

Thank you for the video! So you're using Dark Mode, that's a big factor here.

I just tried with Dark Mode on my machine which is Catalina / Intel, it doesn't flash. I'll try on my Monterey VM soon

[lwouis]

There is no flash on my Monterey VM in Dark Mode either:

Screen.Recording.2021-11-25.at.20.13.44.mov

Could this be Apple Silicon specific, like maybe there are new specific GPU drivers or something?

@validatedev could you please test in Light Mode? I wonder if it flashes as well, or if it's only happening in Dark Mode?

[validatedev]

Flashes with light mode as well.

[lwouis]

I'll close this as it's a bit more intense than usual but overall is a known side-effects of how we get the windows on other Spaces.

This issue is part of #447. We may find a trick there that eliminates also the issue from this ticket here